Another high profile exit from J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)- DWA, JNY

Northern, WI 03/27/2013 (avauncer) - J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) (closed at $15.00, trading down by 1.19%) announced that Lisa DeStefano-Orebaugh, vice president of strategic marketing, left the company to take a similar role with The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) as vice president of marketing and brand management, according to a spokeswoman for The Home Depot Inc. The move is part of series of departures in the marketing department for J.C. Penney. Michel Francis, a merchandise and marketing chief, left the company in June 2012 and Greg Clark, a senior vice president of creative marketing left in October 2012 and joined The Jones Group Inc. (NYSE:JNY), an apparels brand wholesaler and marketer based in New York, New York. Francis became chief global brand officer at DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc (NASDAQ:DWA).

J.C. Penney’s Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson acknowledged certain missteps that led to the departure of Francis and Clark, such as too much spent on television advertising and an insufficient amount spent on print advertisement. Johnson also acknowledged that the company failed to properly communicate its new everyday low price strategy to customers. These missteps led to a fall in J.C. Penney’s revenues in 2012, as the company posted a net loss of $985.00 million in 2012, versus a net loss of $152.00 million in 2011. Earnings per share fell from $0.80 per share in 2011 to a negative $2.43 in 2012.

Johnson assumed a portion of Francis’s duties and is working under the advisement of former The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) marketing Chief Sergio Zyman. J.C. Penney Company, Inc. shares