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Retail executive Ron Johnson may have worked his mojo at Apple, but he couldn’t translate that magic to JCPenney, where the CEO has been ousted after only 17 months and replaced with his predecessor.
The New York Times reported Monday that former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson has failed to live up to expectations at JCPenney, the troubled chain he took charge of 17 months ago after checking out of Cupertino.
Perhaps more embarrassing, the JCPenney board of directors chose to remove Johnson from his Chief Executive Officer position and replace him with Myron E. Ullman III — the man who Johnson replaced only a year and a half ago.
The move appears to be confirmation that Johnson’s reworking of JCPenney’s retail stores failed to work out, with the company losing not only profits but also ground to rivals Macy’s and Kohl’s.
Ullman will return to a very different company than he left 17 months ago: Johnson removed or ran off most of his executive staff, and the former Apple executive’s master plan is still being rolled out at retail.
While there’s no word on where 54-year-old Johnson might land next, many are already predicting a potential return to Apple — after all, CEO Tim Cook has yet to replace retail boss John Browett, the man who replaced Johnson and had a subsequent (and very similar) flame-out in Cupertino.
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