JC Penney Absorbs another Huge Quarterly Loss

The only good thing about the last quarter for JC Penney is it has finally ended. The retailer, which has struggled over the last few years, lost $289 million for the quarter that ended May 4. Sales plummeted by 16.4% compared to last year during the same period.

The new loss comes during a three-month period in which the retailer announced that Ron Johnson, its CEO, had departed. Johnson was a former retail executive from Apple who was hired back in 2011 to revive the struggling chain.

When hired, Johnson announced numerous changes and new initiatives that included redesigned layouts of stores, overhauled prices and free haircuts for children.

He eliminated older brands and was planning to eliminate checkout counters that would be replaced by self and mobile check out.

However, the results were very disappointing. The company lost $1.31 per share this past quarter, excluding special charges. The loss was much higher than the 89 cents per share loss predicted by analysts. Revenue was also short of Wall Street estimates.

On Thursday, in after hours trading, JC Penny stock dropped 2.2% and in premarket trading on Friday was down over 4%.

Mike Ullman is the new CEO at JC Penney. He was in charge of the company for seven years before the arrival of Johnson.

The retailer is already trying to distance itself from the Johnson area. The company ran an ad on YouTube admitting to its mistakes and pleading with prior customers to return to the store.

JC Penney in an attempt to help with finances since the departure of Johnson announced in early May it secured a loan of $1.75 billion at Goldman Sachs.