l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Ron Johnson is out at J.C. Penney Co. JCP +2.72%
Penney's board met Monday and agreed to replace the former Apple Inc. AAPL +
0.71% executive after his plan for revamping the chain's 1,100 department
stores produced a disastrous drop in sales.
Myron Ullman, whom Mr. Johnson succeeded as CEO, will retake the top job and
also has joined the board.
Directors had been showing increasing concern about Mr. Johnson, who rolled
out an ambitious plan to reinvent Penney's stores a year ago but didn't
follow the usual retail practice of first testing the changes in a subset of
stores.
Penney's revamped stores and new lines like Joe Fresh won praise from
analysts. But shoppers were turned off by Mr. Johnson's decision to cut back
clearance sales and didn't respond when Penney started to ratchet discounts
back up last year.
Sales plunged 25% in the year ended Feb. 2, depriving Penney of $4.3 billion
in revenue and causing analysts to ask whether the retailer might run out
of cash needed to fund its overhaul.
The results were diametrically at odds with the high hopes that greeted Mr.
Johnson upon his arrival from Apple, where he won praise for helping create
a new and lucrative style of retail. But the experience didn't translate
well to Penney's customer base of bargain hunters.
Mr. Johnson's fortunes turned a few weeks ago, when it became clear he
wouldn't survive much longer at the helm, one person familiar with the
matter said.
Some Penney officials in recent weeks sounded out executives who might be
able to take on a senior role at the company, people familiar with the
matter said. Those executives include Vanessa Castagna, a former senior
executive at Penney and onetime contender for the company's top job, the
people said. She is now a retail-industry consultant who serves on the
boards of Levi Strauss & Co. and Carter's Inc.
Activist hedge-fund manager William Ackman, who as Penney's largest
shareholder was instrumental in establishing Mr. Johnson as CEO, regularly
said last year that he was willing to wait for the turnaround to start
getting traction. But by last month he was among the board members who were
putting the CEO on a shorter leash, people familiar with the matter said at
the time.
Also last month, fellow activist Steven Roth's Vornado Realty Trust, VNO +1.
10% at the time Penney's second-largest shareholder, dumped more than 40% of
its stake. At Friday's close, Penney's shares were down more than 20% so
far this year.
Messrs. Ackman and Roth have seen their holdings pummeled by the steep slide
in Penney shares. The stock closed up 2.7% Monday at $15.87. The two
investors disclosed their stakes in the fall of 2010 and built their
positions at a cost of $25 to $30 a share, according to securities filings
and a person familiar with the matter.
Penney's shares initially jumped in after hours trading on news of Mr.
Johnson's departure but then fell 8% after Penney announced Mr. Ullman would
return to the job. | k****k
发帖数: 3322 | 2 A little too late, perhaps. J.C. Penney's business was significantly damaged
by this Apple guy. They may find it's never possible to recover from such
mess. An one way ticket to bankruptcy. I hope not.
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and
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【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: Ron Johnson is out at J.C. Penney Co. JCP +2.72%
: Penney's board met Monday and agreed to replace the former Apple Inc. AAPL +
: 0.71% executive after his plan for revamping the chain's 1,100 department
: stores produced a disastrous drop in sales.
: Myron Ullman, whom Mr. Johnson succeeded as CEO, will retake the top job and
: also has joined the board.
: Directors had been showing increasing concern about Mr. Johnson, who rolled
: out an ambitious plan to reinvent Penney's stores a year ago but didn't
: follow the usual retail practice of first testing the changes in a subset of
: stores.
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