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Apple Retail Chief Ron Johnson Departing to Lead J.C. Penney [Updated]

Tuesday June 14, 2011 8:32 am PDT by Eric Slivka
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple Senior Vice President of Retail Ron Johnson is leaving the company to take the position of president at department store chain J.C. Penney, a move that will put Johnson in position to become CEO at the company within the next few months.
J.C. Penney Co. is tapping Ron Johnson, head of Apple Inc.'s iconic retail stores, as its new president and eventual chief executive, people familiar with the situation said.

The company is expected to announce Mr. Johnson's appointment later today. Mr. Johnson will become CEO in the next few months, succeeding long-time leader Myron "Mike" Ullman.
Johnson, who came to Apple eleven years ago from Target, has been credited with being the driving force behind Apple's runaway success in its retail store initiative that has grown to include 325 stores worldwide. Johnson has also been a fixture at many of Apple's highest-profile retail store openings around the world.

Johnson's philosophy for Apple's retail stores has been to "create a place that people will love", focusing on the customer experience rather than simple square footage or sales metrics, although Apple's retail stores are of course performing extremely well by sales measures as well. During his tenure at Apple, he oversaw the entire retail store development process, from the original stores in Tysons Corner, Virginia and Glendale, California to the iconic buildings now located in a number of cities around the world.

Update: J.C. Penney has officially announced that Johnson will assume the CEO position on November 1st and that Johnson will personally make a long-term $50 million investment in J.C. Penney as a sign of his confidence in the future of the company.
Mr. Johnson said, "I've always dreamed of leading a major retail company as CEO, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help J. C. Penney re-imagine what I believe to be the single greatest opportunity in American retailing today, the Department Store. I have tremendous confidence in J. C. Penney's future and look forward to working with Mike Ullman, the Executive Board and the Company's 150,000 associates to transform the way America shops."
Update 2: J.C. Penney's stock is up over 10% on news of Johnson's appointment. Apple's stock has been fluctuating a bit, but is only down slightly since the news broke.

Update 3: Apple has issued a statement to All Things Digital wishing Johnson well and noting that the company is "actively recruiting" for his replacement.
"Ron is excited about this opportunity and we hope it goes well for him," a spokesperson said. "We've got a great retail team in place and are actively recruiting for his replacement."


Tag: Ron Johnson
[ 104 comments ]

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jonnysods
109 months ago
JC Penny is going to rock in a couple of years. 3 shirts, 2 socks, bare walls.
Rating: 13 Votes
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ratzzo
109 months ago
Good for him. If I could be CEO of a very large company like J. C. Penney, I would take the offer without blinking.
Rating: 7 Votes
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paulypants
109 months ago
Challenges

This guy obviously loves a challenge, having done all he can to get Apple Retail where it needed to be, it seems like the right time to move one. No bigger challenge than trying to resurrect such a stale brand as JC Penney...good luck Ron!
Rating: 6 Votes
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RafaelT
109 months ago
Sounds like a good move for him career wise.

I think by this point Apple has retail figured out well enough that they will be just fine without him. He did a really good job though.
Rating: 5 Votes
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*LTD*
109 months ago
JC Penney will be cool again.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Mattie Num Nums
109 months ago
I had the pleasure of working with Ron for many years. He was the real brains behind Apple Retail. Great guy.
Rating: 3 Votes
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ghostlyorb
109 months ago
Apple will miss him, I'm sure. But at least he can make a difference somewhere else.. and hopefully help another business from going under (I doubt they will anyway.. J.C. Penny is usually packed..)
Rating: 3 Votes
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alent1234
109 months ago

The reasons Apple retail was successful is their quality products and their profit margin, which allow Apple to be customer friendly and focused.

JC is a much bigger challenge.



not much different than the standard luxury store model i see

open stores in "high end" areas

have samples of the product

leave a lot of room for people to move around. the trend is that the price of the product is inversely proportional to the amount of space between products

hire halfway decent help

upsell high margin extras

package your products with little wasted space. the boxes on some PC's make them so bulky and increases shipping cost

liberal return policy
Rating: 2 Votes
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HelveticaNeue
109 months ago
"Do you want to sell t-shirts for the rest of your life, or do you want to stick with me and change the world?"

Seriously, I think this could be a great move for him. He's done amazing work with Apple and this opportunity allows him to essentially start from scratch and allows him to advance up the chain a bit higher.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Will do good
109 months ago
Good luck

The reasons Apple retail was successful is their quality products and their profit margin, which allow Apple to be customer friendly and focused.

JC is a much bigger challenge.
Rating: 2 Votes

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