Activist investor escalates battle with JC Penney, calls for chairman to go

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A customer leaves a J.C. Penney store, April 9, 2013 in New York. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Mark Lennihan

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Activist investor Bill Ackman says he has lost confidence in J.C. Penney’s board and its chairman should be replaced.

In the letter Ackman says chairman Thomas Engibous should replaced. He is suggesting former CEO Allen Questrom to replace him. Questrom said Thursday he would rejoin the company but not under a hostile board situation and only if he agreed with the choice of the next CEO.

Ackman, whose Pershing Square has a nearly 18 per cent stake in Penney, in a letter reported a day earlier pushed the board to speed up its CEO search. The board says current CEO Mike Ullman is right for the job.

Ullman replaced Ron Johnson after 17 months after a radical makeover of the chain led to massive revenue declines.

J.C. Penney declined to comment.

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