J.C. Penney shares slump after CEO swap
This picture taken on February 28, 2013, shows a J.C. Penney store in Daly City, California.
Shares in J.C. Penney plunged more than 10 percent Tuesday, a day after the struggling retailer announced it would swap CEO Ron Johnson for his predecessor.
The back to the future move on Monday came amid slumping sales and a falling share price.
Myron Ullman, who was CEO from 2004 to 2011, before being replaced by Johnson, will take up his old job immediately, J.C. Penney said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Johnson, a former Apple executive, had tried to revamp the retail chain from “staid retail dinosaur into a fashion-forward, hipper brand” during his 17 months at the helm.
But his controversial decision to scrap sales and coupons – mainstays of J.C. Penney – in favor of an every day low-price strategy had alienated many customers.
That move, combined with a boom in online retailing and a court battle with Macy's, helped push the company into the red.
J.C. Penney lost nearly $1 billion in 2012 on $13 billion in sales, and shed more than half its market value in the last year as Johnson faced skepticism on Wall Street.
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!