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Apple Retail Chief Ron Johnson Departing to Lead J.C. Penney [Updated]
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It seems like Apple was caught a bit off guard with this announcement. However, the Apple Retail stores have been a huge success for some time now so I think that area of the company will be just fine. JCP does need some major help though, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Ron does with the company. Good luck to him.
Well, he hit a home run with Apple Retail so it doesn't surprise me a retail company is ready to make him CEO.
I can't believe he's investing $50 million. Did he make that dough at Apple?!?
I wonder if the $50 million is actually just some form of stock options? I.e., suppose RJ agrees to take a portion of his compensation in the form of stock options as opposed to cash. That's sort-of like he invested the cash in the company.
I can't believe he's investing $50 million. Did he make that dough at Apple?!?
I wonder if the $50 million is actually just some form of stock options? I.e., suppose RJ agrees to take a portion of his compensation in the form of stock options as opposed to cash. That's sort-of like he invested the cash in the company.
That is incorrect. The $50M warrant will allow him to buy the stock six years from now at today's fixed price. As it stands, he has not purchased those 7.26 million shares. In six years time, he can buy them at $29.92 per share, no matter what price it will be trading at. Obviously, it is in his own personal financial interest, in addition to his professional interest, to make sure that in six years time, the stock will be trading higher than $29.92.
Well, they may both be CEOs but JC Penny is a $7 billion company and Apple is a $300+ billion company.
Visionary
It's a word that's often over-used, but when Apple first went into retail several commentators thought they were misguided and heading for a fall (FWIW, I agreed with them from my position of total ignorance and irrelevance). They weren't and they didn't. Apple proved the pundits wrong, and that it is possible to fill retail stores with customers and make a profit with what is, in reality, a fairly limited product line.
The credit for that is Ron Johnson's.
Good luck to him (although, personally, I would've stayed with Apple!)
It's a word that's often over-used, but when Apple first went into retail several commentators thought they were misguided and heading for a fall (FWIW, I agreed with them from my position of total ignorance and irrelevance). They weren't and they didn't. Apple proved the pundits wrong, and that it is possible to fill retail stores with customers and make a profit with what is, in reality, a fairly limited product line.
The credit for that is Ron Johnson's.
Good luck to him (although, personally, I would've stayed with Apple!)
as someone who works in the salon at jcp, i hope he does his homework on the salon business unlike the current one thats there now. those in charge of the salons need to learn a thing or two. they need to learn the definition of rebooking.
go 'ol JC Pennies
When a massive snow storm / blizzard struck the Buffalo, New York region, my wife and our brand new baby were stranded. She made out a JC Penney sign in distance.
Wife and baby spent the night and next day at Pennies. The staff made a crib out of box and pillows, and crafted diapers out of hand towels and the little plastic baggies used for hair coloring!
Good luck Mr. Johnson.
When a massive snow storm / blizzard struck the Buffalo, New York region, my wife and our brand new baby were stranded. She made out a JC Penney sign in distance.
Wife and baby spent the night and next day at Pennies. The staff made a crib out of box and pillows, and crafted diapers out of hand towels and the little plastic baggies used for hair coloring!
Good luck Mr. Johnson.
Thanks Ron. Gonna miss you. The wife is thrilled you'll be at JC Penney.
There is a great deal of potential at JC Penney.
There is a great deal of potential at JC Penney.
I will be the first person to say Ron leaving Apple is actually good for Apple. Why?
No matter how good something is it will always eventually get stale. And no one person has an infinite supply of ideas. Sure Ron did great for Apple retail. But every so often you need to bring in new people to revitalise the place. New ideas, something fresh for the customer.
If you go into an Apple store and get good or very good customer service, then the customer complains cause they expect excellent service. And that's the problem with Apple. They need to change things up all the time. Always new, always innovative. That's how Apple makes it's cash. And someone else at the Apple retail helm can use what Ron put in place there and take it to even better heights. They could also screw it up too.
That's where Jobs and others some in. They need to hire the right kind of genius to replace Ron. And that's the big issue here. Hire the wrong person and screw it up and Apple could potentially lose it's good brand and other things.
So everyone who likes Apple should be hoping and praying Apple pick a good successor to Ron. And if they do this as we all hope they will, then there's nothing to worry about. Anyways a fresh face there with new ideas is always a good thing.
I'd rather be a VP of Apple then CEO of JCP. But it's all about the challenge for Ron. As good and coushy the Apple job was, it's just boring to him now. 10 years in a job is a long time. he wanted a new place for some excitement. And I don't blame the man.
So yeah Ron seems happy. JCP have a chance with Ron to be a better company. And Apple (if they pick the right Ron replacement) will have a nice shiny new retail VP with new and fresh ideas to move Apple retail to even better heights the Ron ever did.
So yeah there's no loosers here at all. Only winners.
Winners? Yeah ol Charlie Sheen would be proud.
No matter how good something is it will always eventually get stale. And no one person has an infinite supply of ideas. Sure Ron did great for Apple retail. But every so often you need to bring in new people to revitalise the place. New ideas, something fresh for the customer.
If you go into an Apple store and get good or very good customer service, then the customer complains cause they expect excellent service. And that's the problem with Apple. They need to change things up all the time. Always new, always innovative. That's how Apple makes it's cash. And someone else at the Apple retail helm can use what Ron put in place there and take it to even better heights. They could also screw it up too.
That's where Jobs and others some in. They need to hire the right kind of genius to replace Ron. And that's the big issue here. Hire the wrong person and screw it up and Apple could potentially lose it's good brand and other things.
So everyone who likes Apple should be hoping and praying Apple pick a good successor to Ron. And if they do this as we all hope they will, then there's nothing to worry about. Anyways a fresh face there with new ideas is always a good thing.
I'd rather be a VP of Apple then CEO of JCP. But it's all about the challenge for Ron. As good and coushy the Apple job was, it's just boring to him now. 10 years in a job is a long time. he wanted a new place for some excitement. And I don't blame the man.
So yeah Ron seems happy. JCP have a chance with Ron to be a better company. And Apple (if they pick the right Ron replacement) will have a nice shiny new retail VP with new and fresh ideas to move Apple retail to even better heights the Ron ever did.
So yeah there's no loosers here at all. Only winners.
Winners? Yeah ol Charlie Sheen would be proud.
Actually this makes perfect sense. The mans background is in retail. He worked at Target before he came to Apple. So this is pretty much just transitioning back to where he cut his teeth. The rules of retail and customer service don't change much, whether you go from selling computers to clothes or hot dogs on the corner of a street. As long as you keep the customer comfortable and make things simple you usually do well.
I hope he does well.
I hope he does well.
Sorry, that is wrong. He is purchasing (with cash) $50M of warrants.
At the same time, he was also granted $50M of restricted stock, that will vest after the first of the year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110614-711403.html
odd
been going to apple stores for several years both in california and other states, as well as in europe when on a production there. never once had or observed or heard friends who buy there all the time, complain of anybody "wringing" or trying to "wring" more sales. some associates asked if i wanted apple care or mobile me, but never had any arm twisting.
been going to apple stores for several years both in california and other states, as well as in europe when on a production there. never once had or observed or heard friends who buy there all the time, complain of anybody "wringing" or trying to "wring" more sales. some associates asked if i wanted apple care or mobile me, but never had any arm twisting.
Best wishes to Ron Johnson--and it certainly would seem the man loves a challenge. JC Penney is certainly an American icon but they have had lots of ups and downs over the past few--well decades. I remember doing a business paper--"JC Penney A New Marketing Strategy"--and that was in the early 80s. That particular strategy obviously didn't work.
some people thrive on challenges
"bad move"? from your perspective, but obviously not his. nobody knows how it will turn out, but i always root for someone (including me) who go for something that feels right after all the comparisons. never related at all to the people sitting on the fence telling all the players what they were doing wrong.
"bad move"? from your perspective, but obviously not his. nobody knows how it will turn out, but i always root for someone (including me) who go for something that feels right after all the comparisons. never related at all to the people sitting on the fence telling all the players what they were doing wrong.
No, what I said was correct. He purchased $50M of warrants to allow him to buy the stock in the future at a price of $29.92. That is consistent of what is posted in the original article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303848104576385510781132614.html
It is also consistent of the quote you posted:
Paying for the warrants to buy the stock in the future.
Additionally, the $50M in restricted stock is a separate update to the story. I specifically searched for the words "restricted stock" in the original article and was surprised to see it was not there.
"When you're at the top, it's hard to go anyplace but down".
Apple's stores are already at the top of the retail game. J.C.Pennys is in the black, but there's still a ton more potential to prove himself an even bigger business genius by moving JCP upscale and up-profit. At Apple, he's: "been there, done that" already.
There were a couple J.C.Penny's stores near Apple. One was torn down a few years back. Maybe he'll give me a reason to shop at the other one more often. It's a short walk from the future Apple spacecraft landing site.
Apple's stores are already at the top of the retail game. J.C.Pennys is in the black, but there's still a ton more potential to prove himself an even bigger business genius by moving JCP upscale and up-profit. At Apple, he's: "been there, done that" already.
There were a couple J.C.Penny's stores near Apple. One was torn down a few years back. Maybe he'll give me a reason to shop at the other one more often. It's a short walk from the future Apple spacecraft landing site.