Apple senior vice chairman of retail Ron Johnson ( go forth ) at the opening of the Boston Boylston Street Apple Store .
Insofar as Apple has obscure heroes , elderly vice President of the United States of retail Ron Johnson would likely be one of them . On Tuesday , theWall Street Journalreported that Johnson will be leaving Apple to take a position as chairman of department store J.C. Penney , with an optic toward assuming the CEO point upon the current principal executive ’s retirement .
J.C. Penney sustain Johnson ’s appointment , in force November 1 , 2011,in a printing press release ; he ’ll also fall in the company ’s board as of August 1 , 2011 . As of this writing , Apple has not responded toMacworld ’s request for comment , but theJournalreports that the society may announce the move later on Tuesday . An Apple voice confirmed Johnson ’s divergence to All Things ergocalciferol , order that the company is “ actively recruiting for his replacement . ”
Apple senior vice president of retail Ron Johnson (left) at the opening of the Boston Boylston Street Apple Store.
Johnson ’s loss would be a significant shock to Apple ; he reports flat to Apple chief operating officer Steve Jobs and oversees all of the company ’s real retail drive . Indeed , Johnson is the force out behind the troupe ’s Apple Stores , having conjoin Apple about a yr before they launched ; he ’s even credited with having gestate the Genius Bar .
Apple ’s stores have arguably driven much of the winner the company has visualise in the consumer sphere over the last decennary ; in fact , last month Apple celebratedthe tenth anniversaryof the launch of its retail speculation , revamp some of the store ’s offer .
In its most late quarter , Apple reported it had operated 323 stores , with plans to open another 40 in the current fiscal yr . Those stores have see more than 1 billion visitors in eleven countries , and formed a major cornerstone of sales : In one strike detail , Apple has repeatedly commented that 50 percent of customers who have bought Macs in the stores were new to the Mac .
The timing of Johnson ’s going get along in the midst of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ssecond aesculapian leave-taking of absencein the last two age . Apple has emphasized the bore of its top - shelf executive squad during Jobs ’s absence , and Johnson is certainly a big part of that . give his key function , however , he could be a gruelling deed to follow .
Prior to conjoin Apple in 2000 , Johnson help in a miscellany of position at Target , finish as the retail chain ’s frailty president of trade for Target store . He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard and a bachelor ’s level in Economics from Stanford .
Updated at 9:55 a.m. PT with J.C. Penney ’s press dismission .
