J.C. Penney Names Home Depot’s Marvin Ellison as Next CEO

By Nick Turner

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- J.C. Penney has named Marvin Ellison as President and CEO-designee, setting him up to take over for Chief Executive Officer Mike Ullman in 2015. Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman reports on “In The Loop.”

J.C. Penney Co. (JCP), the department-store chain working on a comeback, named Home Depot Inc. (HD)’s Marvin Ellison as its next president, with plans to make him chief executive officer in 2015.
Ellison, who currently serves as executive vice president of stores for Home Depot, will join J.C. Penney as CEO-designee on Nov. 1 and become a board member, the Plano, Texas-based company said today in a statement. The 49-year-old will then take the reins from current CEO Mike Ullman on Aug. 1.
The move follows J.C. Penney’s efforts to revamp the business following a failed makeover under former CEO Ron Johnson, an Apple Inc. (AAPL) executive who wanted to modernize the more-than-century-old chain. Ellison has the right skills to continue the recovery effort, Ullman said in today’s statement.
“His experience and leadership are exactly what we need to accelerate the progress we have made over the last 18 months,” Ullman said.
The announcement sent the shares up as much as 8.8 percent to $7.75 in early trading. The stock had tumbled 22 percent this year through the end of last week.
J.C. Penney is working to stem the
flow of red ink after losing billions over the past three years. Ullman, who had been CEO before Johnson’s tenure, took back the role in April 2013 and began trying to win back customers who were alienated by Johnson’s changes. The 67-year-old has brought back promotions and discounts -- an approach that Johnson eschewed -- and has added private-label goods and affordable housewares.

Source: JC Penney via Bloomberg

J.C. Penney Co. named Home Depot Inc.’s Marvin Ellison as president of the... Read More

Sales Forecast

J.C. Penney, which has about 1,060 stores, posted a narrower loss last quarter. Still, the company’s most recent sales forecast showed that its turnaround isn’t assured. The company cuts its same-store projection for the third quarter on Oct. 8, sending its stock on the biggest one-day plunge in more than a year.
Ullman has laid out a plan to generate $2.55 billion in additional sales over the next three years by retooling the chain’s departments that sell shoes and handbags. The retailer is expanding the square footage dedicated to women’s shoes by 30 percent and will separate the men’s footwear into its own area, Ullman said earlier this month. The new departments will be introduced next year.
After Ellison becomes CEO in 2015, Ullman will be executive chairman of the board for a year. Ellison, who has spent the past 12 years at Home Depot, previously worked at Target Corp.