Amazon plugs in a future for Sears

LAST week, one old American icon was helped by a new American icon. One wilting billionaire was helped by one newly muscle-bound billionaire.

I’m talking about Amazon essentially throwing a lifeline to Sears with a deal to sell the ailing retailer’s Kenmore brand appliances on the mighty e-tailer’s Web site.

Sears has been a nightmare investment for hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert, who controls the teetering titan. Sears’

demise is the kind of nightmare about which business books are written.

Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, on the other hand, has enjoyed broad and massive reach and acceptance, as shoppers have become comfortable with shopping online, and has come to dominate the e-tail landscape.

The deal is undeniably a victory for Sears, even if it turns out to be no more than a public relations maneuver for Amazon.

Sears, which has its own stores — too many of them, in fact — teamed up with Amazon in order to help Kenmore broaden its reach to the millennial generation, according to Kenmore President Tom Park.

While Sears’ stock initially jumped more than 20 percent on the news Thursday morning, the stock eventually settled down, closing up 10 percent.

In contrast, Amazon’s stock basically yawned. Perspective is important here — the deal has the potential to be a meaningful plus for Sears.

In what essentially amounts to an experiment for Amazon, expanding its selling into a broader range of appliances may be the last chance for Sears and the Kenmore brand to survive.

Today, there is no doubt Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla of retail — and it would likely take King Kong to save Sears from extinction.

That said, numerous photos of newly beefed-up Bezos were circulating on social media last week. Maybe the once-scrawny Silicon Valley nerd is taking this “King of the Jungle” status very seriously.