Former Apple SVP of Retail Ron Johnson ousted from JCPenney
According to multiple reports on Monday, Ron Johnson has been fired from his post as CEO of JCPenney, with Mike Ullman to retake the position he left in 2011.
Ron Johnson opens a Chicago Apple Store.
News of Johnson's departure was first published by CNBC, which cited a source familiar with the situation as saying the chief executive would be stepping down.
In a follow-up to the initial report, JCPenney issued a press release to Forbes, which included a statement from chairman of the company's board Thomas Engibous.
"We are fortunate to have someone with Mike's proven experience and leadership abilities to take the reins at the company at this important time," Engibous said. "He is well-positioned to quickly analyze the situation jcpenney faces and take steps to improve the company's performance."
After leaving Apple in late 2011, Johnson took on the role of chief executive at JCPenney, hoping to revitalize the storied company's image after finding rousing success with the Apple Store. However, a series of sweeping changes, including bans on sale pricing and the promotion of trendy products through "stores-within-a-store," didn't bear fruit.
Since Johnson took over as CEO, JCPenney has posted losses each quarter, with the company's stock dropping over 50 percent. For the firm's retail giant's fiscal 2012, revenues were down $12.99 billion, equating to a 27 percent drop from the year previous to Johnson's tenure. With news of Johnson's departure, the stock spiked some 10 percent in after-hours trading.
Johnson is largely attributed with the creation of Apple's brick-and-mortar retail chain, which most recently raked in a record $6.4 billion in sales during the 2012 holiday quarter. HIs old post at Apple is currently vacant after John Browett was fired following a series of reports pointing to strategies not inline with traditional Apple Store practices.
Ron Johnson opens a Chicago Apple Store.
News of Johnson's departure was first published by CNBC, which cited a source familiar with the situation as saying the chief executive would be stepping down.
In a follow-up to the initial report, JCPenney issued a press release to Forbes, which included a statement from chairman of the company's board Thomas Engibous.
"We are fortunate to have someone with Mike's proven experience and leadership abilities to take the reins at the company at this important time," Engibous said. "He is well-positioned to quickly analyze the situation jcpenney faces and take steps to improve the company's performance."
After leaving Apple in late 2011, Johnson took on the role of chief executive at JCPenney, hoping to revitalize the storied company's image after finding rousing success with the Apple Store. However, a series of sweeping changes, including bans on sale pricing and the promotion of trendy products through "stores-within-a-store," didn't bear fruit.
Since Johnson took over as CEO, JCPenney has posted losses each quarter, with the company's stock dropping over 50 percent. For the firm's retail giant's fiscal 2012, revenues were down $12.99 billion, equating to a 27 percent drop from the year previous to Johnson's tenure. With news of Johnson's departure, the stock spiked some 10 percent in after-hours trading.
Johnson is largely attributed with the creation of Apple's brick-and-mortar retail chain, which most recently raked in a record $6.4 billion in sales during the 2012 holiday quarter. HIs old post at Apple is currently vacant after John Browett was fired following a series of reports pointing to strategies not inline with traditional Apple Store practices.
Comments
What a shame. Now, JCP can raise their prices 25% and then offer customers a 20% off coupons and watch the foolish shoppers come roaring back through the doors to "catch a great sale". It's a huge disappointment that his philosophy didn't work because, after all, they were one of very few stores running an honest, open, and fair pricing policy.
All this just proving that getting a retail chief isn't easy. Former stars can be reduced to dust quickly.
Hopefully Ron and Apple have already been in discussions and he arrives in Cupertino before the week is out. At least he tried something new at JC Penney because sales were already plunging before Ron became CEO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoffdino
Like a marriage, it's hard to come back after a divorce. The problem with Johnson is he tried to apply the Apple formula tp JC Penny. One's a premium product, the other rely on low margin and high volume. Apple pull people to their stores with the products. JC Penny uses coupons to push people to their stores.
All this just proving that getting a retail chief isn't easy. Former stars can be reduced to dust quickly.
Agreed. I was very surprised he would even consider going to such a stodgy outfit like JC Penney. I understand the desire to be a CEO, but JC Penny's is a crap store, with crap products. It's in the business of "going out of business!" Rather like Sears and Kmart.
I really feel for the guy... wish him the best. What he did for Apple was great....not just the "style" of the store, but the Genius Bar was brilliant!
Apple shouldn't let him back.
He chose to leave Apple, and just because he didn't succeed at his current job doesn't mean that Apple should just let people come and go as they please.
For his seven years at Apple, the dude got over 400 million dollars. With Apple's horrible stock performance recently, they shouldn't be throwing around money like that.
I didn't think he could change the customer base from my mother shopping with coupons to my son looking for something hip. Too big of a move for a old mammoth like JCP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apple ][
Apple shouldn't let him back.
He chose to leave Apple, and just because he didn't succeed at his current job doesn't mean that Apple should just let people come and go as they please.
For his seven years at Apple, the dude got over 400 million dollars. With Apple's horrible stock performance recently, they shouldn't be throwing around money like that.
$400,000,000?!? I'm not asking for "proof", but WOW! That's much more than I would have guessed. On another note, I thought the JCP rebranding was too much, too soon. None of the commercials or promotionals I saw seemed to ease the customer to equating JCP with JC Penny. Just a thought.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carthusia
$400,000,000?!? I'm not asking for "proof", but WOW! That's much more than I would have guessed. On another note, I thought the JCP rebranding was too much, too soon. None of the commercials or promotionals I saw seemed to ease the customer to equating JCP with JC Penny. Just a thought.
On October 31, 2007 Johnson exercised 700,000 stock options in Apple stock with a strike price of $23.72, and then sold the stock later that day for $185 to $185.21 apiece netting him a $112m profit. It has been reported that Johnson earned $400 million during his seven and a half years at Apple.[2]
While head of J. C. Penney, Johnson continued to live in California and commuted to work in Plano, Texas by private jet several days a week.[3]
On April 8, 2013, he was fired as CEO as JC Penny and replaced by Mike Ullman.[4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Johnson_(businessman)
JC Penny should change their name. It just sounds so 1900s Americana. It needs more of a European fashion elegance sound.
Jeanne Claude Parfaire
Kind of immature point of view.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apple ][
...He chose to leave Apple, and just because he didn't succeed at his current job doesn't mean that Apple should just let people come and go as they please....
I have no idea, from the outside, whether anyone could have turned JCP around quicker or not, but I do know the staff at my local JCP is awful! You can't help with anything. They don't even know basic things.
However, "choosing to leave Apple" should not automatically mean you can't come back. That decision should be made on whether coming back is good for Apple, shouldn't it?
It's more important for Apple to have the best people (which may or may not by Johnson) than it is to enforce some vendetta against human beings "coming and going as they please."
Um, Johnson came from Target...
This will get their name in the news, and eventually, customers will arrive.
This is not good for JCPenny. JCPenny needs to distinguish itself somehow. Johnson was the person to do it. They should have continued to believe in him. They compete directly with Target at many locations, and Target looks relatively upscale. Without a reinvention, JCPenny doesn't have much of a chance especially when they hire a person who was already a part of their problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nagromme
It's more important for Apple to have the best people (which may or may not by Johnson) than it is to enforce some vendetta against human beings "coming and going as they please."
Agreed