J.C. Penney Cuts Its Losses by Canning CEO
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Scott Olson/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson was fired Monday and replaced with Myron E. Ullman III, who actually held the same job for seven years before Johnson was named CEO in late 2011.
At the time, J.C. Penney’s board hoped that Johnson’s success at heading Apple’s retail operation would help the company rebound from losing business to Target and other stores.
However, whatever Johnson tried didn’t work. He abandoned Penney’s discount policy, only to reinstate it. He instituted a three-tier pricing policy that confused everyone, and then tossed it to the curb.
Johnson revamped the store’s campaign strategy to focus on lifestyle, but customers complained they just wanted to know how much products cost.
And in another disaster, Johnson arranged for Penney to carry Martha Stewart’s home products but Macy’s sued, saying it has the exclusive rights to the homemaking maven’s housewares.
The final straw came last quarter when Penney lost $522 million and saw sales drop 30 percent.
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