(via NY POST)
JCPenney’s new CEO has come out swinging in 2012 — the ax, that is.
Former Apple exec Ron Johnson — who on Wednesday is slated to unveil a top-secret strategy for a dramatic overhaul of the aging department store — has begun the new year by slashing thousands of jobs nationwide, The Post has learned.
As 52-year-old Johnson replaces Penney’s decades-old use of traditional sales and clearance events with a new “everyday pricing” strategy, sources said he’s firing workers who had long been responsible for re-tagging merchandise and plastering stores with temporary signs and displays.
“As planned, we held over some seasonal holiday hires to help us with the re-ticketing of merchandise,” a JCPenney spokeswoman said.
“As this project comes to a close over the next several weeks, the temporary employment of these seasonal hires will come to an end.”
The firm declined to comment further, but sources said cutbacks are affecting entire teams of permanent staff.
“Many employees were given an option . . . to either leave the company or be moved to a different shift,” according to a source briefed on Penney’s plans. However, some were forced to quit because they couldn’t work the oddball shifts they were offered, the source added.
Insiders said fears of further firings are rippling through the ranks — from store associates to execs at the retailer’s headquarters in Plano, Texas — as Johnson beats the drum about transforming Penney’s sleepy corporate culture.
“They’ve got a lot of industry veterans there, and they’re all worried they’re going to lose their job because they’re over 40,” according to an executive at one Penney supplier.
As previously reported by The Post, Johnson last month announced a 10-year deal with Martha Stewart without bothering to tell Chris Madden, Penney’s own celebrity home-furnishings designer for the past eight years.
Sources said Johnson is being prodded to trim the fat by Penney’s two biggest shareholders — hedge-fund tycoon Bill Ackman and property magnate Steve Roth, who heads real-estate giant Vornado.
Since the duo disclosed big Penney positions more than a year ago, the retailer has shuttered laggard warehouses, outlets and call centers, as well as its catalog business.
Ackman and Roth “are licking their chops to cut costs, and this is an example of what they see as ‘low-hanging fruit,’” a source said of the layoffs slated for today.
Indeed, some investors speculate that Penney will announce across-the-board cuts this week, paring advertising spending and slimming company divisions that design private-label clothing. Last week, the retail chain eliminated weekly circulars for the first time in a year, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Charles Grom, who notes that two years ago Penney spent more than twice the competition on marketing. Penney has cut orders for new inventory by as much as 10 percent, according to several manufacturers.
Read more: http://trade.cc/abpy
