Bill Ackman To Dump All 39 Million J.C. Penney Shares

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Ever since activist investor Bill Ackman resigned from J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) earlier this month, there’s been speculation about what he will do. Now we have further prove of what has already been expected. A regulatory filing indicates that he’s dumping all of his shares and walking away from the aging retail chain.

Bill Ackman To Dump All 39 Million J.C. Penney Shares

Ackman’s battle with J.C. Penney

The company adopted a poison pill after the public go-around with Ackman. He tried to push the company into speeding up the process to find a permanent replacement for interim CEO Myron Ullman, but the board was not thrilled. After a couple of days, he caved and resigned from the board.

After his resignation, J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) offered Ackman an agreement for the orderly sale of his shares. The agreement took effect immediately, and it looks like Ackman isn’t wasting any time.

Ackman files prospectus for J.C. Penney sales

Today his fund Pershing Square Management filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission covering the sale of more than 39 million shares of the fund’s J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) stock. At this point it looks like the prospectus covers the fund’s entire stake in the company. Of course the retailer itself will not receive proceeds from the sale of the shares.

Ackman’s mistakes about J.C. Penney

Of course today’s filing isn’t much of a surprise, especially after the agreement struck between Pershing Square and J.C. Penney regarding the sale of the shares. Nonetheless, shares of the company’s stock fell during regular trading on Monday and then kept declining after the markets closed, falling another 2.52 percent in after-hours trading.

Ackman himself wrote in his recent investor letter than he made some mistakes at J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP). Pershing Square amassed a 17 percent stake in the retail chain, and nothing he has done has managed to prop up the company’s stock price. In fact, some would argue that he just made the situation worse, especially by bringing in now-former CEO Ron Johnson.

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