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Former Apple Retail Head Ron Johnson Fired as CEO of JC Penney

Shame really. I actually shopped at JCP after not shopping there for decades. My local store has two floors. The top floor is mainly menswear and is completely redone. The bottom floor is womenswear and has not been redone yet.

It is a night and day experience. The mens' floor is open and easy to navigate. The displays are really nice and many brands have their own small store within a store. Prices were really fair and I felt very positive about the place.

Downstairs is like a trip back to a 1970's Sears. Racks haphazardly strewn about. Really cluttered and claustrophobic feeling. Just really dated.

It was a tale of two cities.
 
It wasn't so good for Johnson to create million-dollar walkway store layouts for JCpenny. It would be fine if he did that for Apple. If he comes back I can't wait!
 
nfl46 said:
Well, dayum...:eek: Someone must be coming back to Apple?
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Or not.

He could retire

He could start a consulting firm

He could take a job at another company.

A return to Apple is not guaranteed

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lifeinhd said:
Well I wasn't expecting that. How could the man who did such great things for apple retail do so badly at jcp that he's out not long after he started? :eek:
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It was a risky job he was taking. They wanted to turn around a humdrum business and thought that would take radical change. Which is what Johnson put in motion. But neither the customers or employees went for it. So it failed. It's not really a reflection on Johnson so much as it was ultimately a bad move to go for that plan.
 
shady28 said:
Under the prior CEO (Ullman - who is returning) JCP had its *most profitable year ever* with 1 billion in profit, in 2010. Throughout the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the company was *profitable every single year*. We gave out a dividend *every single quarter*. That does not describe a company that was on the ropes.
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Something tells me the reason for Ullman's return is not his record of positive results...it looks like Wall Street was less than enthusiastic once they learned Ullman was returning.

Here's a slide that showed why jcp was in need of change when Johnson was brought in. Of course, their results have been even worse since then, which is too bad. I liked the ideas, and thought the in-store experience was an interesting track, but the execution was very poor. I think a gradual rollout doing a few stores at a time would have been easier to swallow and a better way to evaluate results and retool the ideas that were misguided.

For example, I was in a jcp where they were using iPods for checkout, and it was a disaster. Because their main registers were gone (replaced by a Joe Fresh display), they had set up a makeshift 'register' on a low merchandise table and there were people lined up among the racks. I really think the iPod checkout was a poorly conceived idea for a store with physical footprints as large as jcp, especially when the employees are not wearing uniforms...how would anyone know where to go to ring up their purchases?
 

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Snowshiro said:
Not being funny, but how much of Ron's success at Apple was his own genius, and how much of it was simply implementing Steve's vision?

A lot of things seem to have slipped since Jobs passed. Someone coming back to "new" Apple may achieve very different results, than they did under a leader like Steve Jobs with his ferocious attention to detail.
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I'm sorry but Steve Jobs wasn't god. How much of Steve's success was the talented people he surrounded himself with who made him look like a genius?
 
tigres said:
Can't say I'm surprised here, nor should anyone be. JCP is a wreck right now, and frankly it's his doing.
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BS. JCP was a disaster before he got there. But there's really nothing that can save them. He was expected to do for them what he did for Target. But they sit in a different, and dying segment.
 
Mr.damien said:
Which amazing stuff ? Managing store people to the point they strike all over the world, or like they are always sued everywhere for not applying legal text in their shop ?
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The strikes only became a major thing after he left and Browett kicked in.

And no one has actually hit Apple with a suit saying they didn't follow through on a valid consumer complaint. Just a lot of talk and much of it by folks that don't understand the actual laws and how Apple's warranty is something totally different. Or even that it's not Apple's job to teach folks about local law etc
 
I kind of get that, but Net Income is the main determining factor for a company. That's the bottom line - how much profit it made.

So, even after giving a consistent dividend, take a look at Quarterly results.

This is what I refer to. Other things like margins, etc, are what feed into the profits.

Yes JCP had some issues. They could have simply did a 5% cut in workforce (which is how RJ started) and continued normal operation, becoming a much more efficient and profitable company. RJ took it way, way, way too far.

Ron Johnson :
Jan. 31, 2013 -552.00M
Oct. 31, 2012 -123.00M
July 31, 2012 -147.00M
April 30, 2012 -163.00M
Jan. 31, 2012 -87.00M
Oct. 31, 2011 -143.00M

Ullman below :

July 31, 2011 14.00M
April 30, 2011 64.00M
Jan. 31, 2011 271.00M
Oct. 31, 2010 44.00M
July 31, 2010 14.00M
April 30, 2010 60.00M
Jan. 31, 2010 200.00M
Oct. 31, 2009 27.00M
July 31, 2009 -1.00M
April 30, 2009 25.00M
Jan. 31, 2009 211.00M
Oct. 31, 2008 124.00M
July 31, 2008 117.00M
April 30, 2008 120.00M
 
I really liked what he did with JCP. Especially their pricing structure. With avoiding the constant sale craze you always knew you were getting their "bottom dollar" (things were still discounted to close out stock on occasion". This not only was a reassure for the consumer but it also allowed for less in store labor as less employees were required to change prices all the time.
 
shady28 said:
Under the prior CEO (Ullman - who is returning) JCP had its *most profitable year ever* with 1 billion in profit, in 2010. Throughout the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the company was *profitable every single year*. We gave out a dividend *every single quarter*. That does not describe a company that was on the ropes.
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And yet the Board kicked out Ullman and hired someone else. BoDs rarely kick out someone for making a company successful. Seems like it wasn't all roses like you want us to believe.
 
Rogifan said:
I'm sorry but Steve Jobs wasn't god. How much of Steve's success was the talented people he surrounded himself with who made him look like a genius?
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And THAT is the mark of an EXCELLENT CEO. the CEO doesn't make one single item, or all one single item... They HIRE the best people they can to do that.
 
imageWIS said:
And he still gets paid $1.9 million! Ridiculous!
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I'm sure the severance package was part of the deal that got him to leave Apple in the first place. Someone like Johnson who has a great thing going isn't going to leave Apple to take a risky position for nothing.
 
ftball999 said:
I really liked what he did with JCP. Especially their pricing structure. With avoiding the constant sale craze you always knew you were getting their "bottom dollar" (things were still discounted to close out stock on occasion". This not only was a reassure for the consumer but it also allowed for less in store labor as less employees were required to change prices all the time.
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I, too, was disappointed that a new style of retail didn't work. I've always hated that - can't go to the store to get what you want when you want it, instead, have to wait for it to go on sale. I loved the idea, bought a bunch of JCP stock, but it hasn't worked. I don't know if I'm more disappointed in my results or in the consumer, who still seems to want to play the insane 'sale' game.
 
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