ater on, august 8, 1863, johnson is -- the day johnson freed his slaves. andto this day in tennessee surrounding states, it's still day. ated as emancipation >> do you know what came of them? >> they all stayed on as paid servants afterwards. all took the last name of johnson? >> they all took the last name of johnson. eventually baked and sold pies out of the tailor shop. own business.r sam wrote president johnson at forpoint asking to buy land purposes of a church and schoolhouse for the frican-american children in greenville and johnson wrote the and said, no, this has plot of land and i'll give it to you. greenville.hat in he gave sam land and built his own house. >> the most challenging time for family had to be the war years. and jon was in the senate at this point. mentioned earlier that he was the only united states enator from the south who supported the union. where does his strong union allegiance come from? east tennessee was very much pro union in the civil war. mindset, a different different type of infrastructure. a different type of farming

but ron johnson's tenure at j.c. penney appears to be over now according to a source familiar with the situation. >> the stock rose the day he took over the job and it's rising big time as he leaves the job. we'll turn it over to you guys and let you guys on "fast money" chew this around and see what it means for this stock going forward. over to you guys. >> thanks so much. welcome to "fast money." let's go straight to the breaking news in the after-hour session. j.c. penney ceo ron johnson is out. is out. this after the stock has been beaten down to a pulp. as we see the stock popping sharply in the after-hours session. >> this certainly has people running to cover what's been a great trade. i think people will say, this is a guy who came from apple, where it was a product specialized place and you couldn't do that in j.c. penney, even though it seemed like a great idea. traders trading this news and should be. >> there are a lot of missteps along the way, declaring that promotional strategy was out, alienating a l

johnson attended church. i think there were vague lines between politics and religion a lot of times. >> at that time period, we do have a letter when he thought he was dying in the 18 70's where he is at peace. so it shows that while not practicing at a church in particular, he was still a religious man. >> and before we leave this life in the early days in the white house, tell us more about how the white house ended up in such a state. mrs. lincoln spent a lot of money and was criticized. >> that is very true. after the president passed away, she went upstairs and was there for six weeks and the white house was open to the public. as soon as the doors were open in the morning, people were constantly coming through. there was a tremendous amount of traffic. and there was a lot of vandalism also. the wanted pieces of carpeting or drapery or pieces of fabric, china was missing and it was in disarray. there's a lot of people coming through the white house. >> where was the security? >> the security wasn't payi

this is life after the white house for the johnsons. >> we're in mrs. johnson's room. this is the room she returned to after their years in the white house. we have her bed. and nearby since she was an invalid plagued with consumption, she had what's known as an invalid's chair. she could partake in some of her favorite activities and relax. not only does the foot rest come up, but it reclines. being an invalid also spending time in this room, there's a spittoon by her chair. this is necessary from the consumption she suffered. pink wash basin and chamber pot. it's interesting because eliza's are pink and the president's are blue in his room. she enjoyed embroidery work. we have a song bird on her table and she enjoyed reading poetry. one was entitled "the happy life." she and drew suffered a lot in the civil war, during the years of the presidency. one of the point she is mark in the book is entitled "love and adversity." stormy skies have drawn our spirits near and rendered us by borrowed tides each to the other dear. that sums up eliza and andrew's relationship. she

that correlates with, with johnson leaving. johnson left.ed right around the same time. a lot of problems that happened at apple, we can trace back to jobs. bringing back ron johnson isn't going to solve anything. >> you know the apple story is as good as anyone. the destruction in shareholder value over the past year or so. where does retail fit in the fires that they have to essentially put out right now? >>. >> i don't think there's anything wrong with retail right now. i think it's running on auto pilot right now. which says to me they're just running the show the way jobs would want to. i mean, sales per square foolt and everything else. it's fantastic. i don't think there's a problem there. there's problems in other parts o it have business, primarily. can apple innovate and do another big problem like ipad or iphone or ipod. none of this has anything to do with ron johnson, no matter how much the media wants the to push that story. >> yeah, it's going be interesting to see where he winds up. i'll tell you that. have a great, safe trip

they were never close. >> what sam houston johnson? >> sam houston johnson was a reprobate. he was lyndon's quite younger brother. the girls incidentally never had any problems with it. they were always supportive, there was not any sibling rivalry there, interesting. but he was such a roust about, round about, that they kept him in the white house for most of lyndon johnson's term on the third floor as a guest, and i said it's kind of like house arrest, because there they could keep an eye on him and kind of know what he was up to. and he knew that. he would go through the gates of the white house joking with the guards, holding his hands up as though they were in handcuffs. >> what about billy carter and jimmy? >> billy carter, again, much younger. he actually did business with libya, the outlaw nation of libya. >> you said $275,000. >> yes, quite a lot of money. and the idea that with his brother in the white house, that he would have anything to do with a nation that was an outlaw in every sense, with terrorists, with all of the things that were anti-american, that he wo

>> i mean, i think actually johnson was on to something when he was doing this. within the department store industry, i mean, you're seeing significant shrink in terms of customer loyalty. customers who returned to brick and mortar and really customers that are driving to specific department stores. i think the store within a store concept that he was trying to innovate at jc penney was actually where this industry's going and i wouldn't be surprised if you see nordstroms, nieman marcus, maybe even macy's push this strategy. >> bloomingdale's already doing it with some success. so do you think the new ceo ought to walk away from what johnson was trying with the store within a store? they're not inexpensive to do. >> right. well, i think what johnson with was trying to do was he was trying to overly innovate 10% of the store and ignored the 90% that was left behind. that was really jc penney's core base. if i was walking into this situation as a ceo, obviously, you have to integrate part of johnson's plan. they bled more than $2 billion over the last three years,

johnson was shown the door.ave a severe cash flow problem, and i heard jay margolis say -- you mentioned the b word, and i think that is a real possibility -- liz: the b word, folks, is bankruptcy, and jay side tight, could be close. >> i think it will be tight. i think they have telegraphed a diluted offering in the near future, and i think that might be the reason for the sudden change. they might want to get this out of the way before the quarter ends at the end of this month so they don't have no show those numbers before they raise money in some type of a divert. liz: paul, you've got the buy rating here. bankruptcy? i'm assuming you would say, no, but it looks like it's circling like some type of vulture. >> yeah. and i think the issue here is can they manage, as you point out, can they manage liquidity, do they have flexibility on inventory, do they have flexibility on additional cost cutting. and, of course, some of it has been coming from the vendors, but they also have cap ex plans that they could, hop

johnson. of course, it was ticking. i wasn't that big a fan of johnson's.shame exists. it's troubling, becky, because a lot of people work there. there's a lot of dispute about whether mike goldman coming back whether that's good or bad, but remember, this is a company that needs to be able to calm the creditors. and david, isn't everything now and christmas, it's about having those credit lines? it's a very important component of being a retailer, no doubt about it and confidence erodes then you have real problems and just tries to stabilize. stabilize. stabilize. >> i know howard schultz, adamant, and mike on the board of starbucks. it's the right call. the turmoil has to stop. the people commuting to plano has to stop. they need to be able to rally the troops and it's late. >> i know. >> that is so cute. the ceo can't commute on a plane. i mean, come on. last time i was on you made a great call on apple and i said it's getting low 500s and it's getting cheap, jim. you have to look at the shareholder base. you have been dead right $420. when does it get c

jack johnson is by himself, he has a few preachers and jack johnson, he was totally against the blackvement and all that stuff. he was about getting it for ourselves because he was never accustomed to black people sticking together. to the history of black america, that blacks were never strong and sticking together, they never trusted each other. he did it by himself. he didn't have a congregation. he didn't have no groups or anything. he was by himself. and that shows the greatest courage. listen, don, he's in the ring and there's 50,000 white people that are saying i'm going to -- he's in the guy torturing the guy, laughing at the people when he's doing it. when you come out you need a lynching. but he's in the ring fighting these guys. talking to the white and beat this guy up and they're threatening his life. >> thank you. we appreciate you coming on. let us know how it turns out. will you come back and talk to us when it's all other. >> all love, brother. ♪ at quicken loans, we won't make you wait for it. our efficient, online system allows us to get you through your home loan p

on the first reports that ron johnson is leaving. came in a year ago, jcpenney stock popped on hopes of johnson could do something to add some sizzle to this middle of the road retailer. it is not as hip as it needs to be, not as young as it needs to be. ron johnson tried to establish all of these branded stores within a store. they are now fighting over the martha stuart brand. one of the new store in a store they started. now we will see what happens when the new officer will come in to set the company on the right course. the problem is apple and apple stores were dealing with a product people super loud and exclusive. jcpenney was selling run-of-the-mill retail goods you could get almost anywhere where price and discount becomes a way to compete. ron johnson tried to change the entire industry with his approach of everyday low pricing and it failed numerous times in previous years in other sectors. p&g tried it and bacacked off of it. people love the idea of a discount even if it turns out you're giving them lower prices every si

jack johnson broke all the barriers.e first guy, black guy in galveston with a car when he was champion. he was the ali before ali. >> ali even looked up to him as well. listen, i think that you probably looked up to him as well. i should mention you're in the motor city right now on tour starring in your one-man show called "undisputed truth." jack johnson tried to live that truth. do you think that he has a chance? >> man, i believe god is great and i believe good can be vindicated. i believe in these circumstances and at the time of the circumstance it happened that it was all done with ill will. and i think mr. johnson will get pardoned. i really believe that. i'm pushing a petition. i have over 3 million followers and i'm sure we can get -- with the grace of god, we can get 100,000 votes. >> we're looking at the petition now. the petition is on a website, change.org. you are trying to get a lot of people to help you out. some big political heavy-hitters in your corner. tell us about who they are and what they're doi

jack johnson is by himself.ally against black power movement and all that stuff, he was about getting it for ourselves. black people sticking together. you know, to the history of black america, that blacks were never strong sticking together so they never stuck together. he did it by himself. he didn't have a congregation. he was by himself. that shows the greatest courage. listen, don, he's in the ring, don, and there's 50,000 white people, don, saying i'm going to kill you after the ring. and he's in the ring beating a guy, torturing a guy, laughing at the people while he's doing it. when you come out, [ bleep ], excuse me, don. fighting these guys while they're saying this. beating this guy up and threatening his wife. >> mike tyson. >>> violence erupts in egypt and put pus a cathedral under siege. the details straight ahead. ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy r

johnson lost? >> oh, simon shareholders are certainly not the only ones pays the price, while shares have lost 51% during johnson's 17 months at ceo, it's cost him dearly as well. with the help of executive compensation data firm, during his time at j.c. penney, the total take hoff cash, 2.1 million, the total other comp nearly 402,000, total value, he holds outright, about 14.2 million, making his total take-home pay in 2011 and 2012, 16.7 million, but simon, then there's the 50 million in warrants that johnson bought, with a strike price of 29.92, that cannot be exercised until 2017. currently very out of the money, so assuming that no value is realized on those warrants, johnson effectively lost 33.3 million in his time as ceo. we do know that the interim ceo, mr. mike ullman will be making $1 million as his base pay. tyler, back to you. >> court, thank you very much. what does the returns ceo, mr. ullman, the million dollar a year man have to do in the next 100 days to fix j.c. penney? the time

>> i just mentioned johnson & johnson.is is one today, i bought some puts a couple weeks ago, 3% lower, i rolled them up. i'm being more convicted forç e reason i just stated, some of those gaps in defensive names make me believe that there's going to be down side for some of these crowded trades. johnson & johnson expected to grow 6% a year. it's up 21% year to date, all-time highs trading at a multiple it hasn't seen in ages. these are the bets you want to make at highs like this. >> brian kelly? >> i agree with dan. you can agree with me or disagree with me wherever the market is going to head down here, but the very laeast, buy some puts. protect your portfolio. just be smart about it. buy some puts to protect yourself. >> josh? >> we raised some cash this week. we had a company, qualcomm. good earnings report. that's not good enough for us. we love a company, we don't love qualcomm anymore, given the fact that there's more competition than we thought coming down the pike. that's an example where you get to raise cash

he was the ceo before ron johnson. during the time that he was ceo, the stock price fell 17% and earnings were relatively flat. as far as where the company goes from here, a lot of questions still unanswered at this hour as to what this interim ceo will change, if anything, as they make the transition and search for a prominent replacement. >> so there's no likelihood that mr. ullman will be the permanent successor to mr. johnson whatsoever? >> at this point we don't know. it is possible. however, we know that the board moved him out and moved him in. it's possible he could stay, but at this point j.c. penney is using the words interim ceo. it has happened in the past that these interims become permanent, but as with best buy, the new interim ceo did not become the permanent. >> courtney, i think the $1 million question here is, is j.c. penney fixable, no matter who's the ceo? >> i think it is fixable. i think the big question is how and how long it will take. they are in the middle of a very big turnaround plan. they'

and johnson. and there was a 4% decline in prices at the gas pump. helping, industrial production was higher than forecast in march. with u.s. automakers churning out more new cars and trucks and utilities, combatting a nationwide cold snap that we suffered from last month. and good news in housing. construction of new homes shot up by 7% in march. enough to reach an adjusted annual rate of 1 million housing units for the last month. something we have not seen in five years. >> bill, that jump in new home building sent shares of the nation's biggest home builders higher. ryland up 3.5%. and others have all seen gain. much of the surge in construction was not single family homes however. but multi-family rental apartments. it's a sector that has been growing rapidly over the past few years and now there's concern about a backlash in all those rental units that are hitting the market all at once. diane explains. >> as the market for single family homes recovers, a curious contradiction, rental apart

and in the eight, magic johnson watched the dodgers 4- nothing victory.a women - cal/ georgia lindsay gottleib and cal trying to reach their 1st final four cal was down by 10 in the 2nd half but cal's talia caldwell follows up the missed free throw. 50-50 tie final seconds of regulation cal up 52-50 georgia's anne armstrong gets the offensive rebound and the putback to tie it 52-52 overtime 61-57 cal layshia carendon. gets in the lane and hist the pullup jumper 63-57 cal with 38 seconds left cal now up 3 last second heave by georgia to tie it isn't close cal is going to their first final four cal is the first team from the west coast to do so since long beach state in 1988 presdent obama picked cal to final: 65-62 cal carson palmer turns out carson palmer's last play in a raider uniform was this one: getting knocked out of the game in week 15 last year palmer is headed to the arizona cardinals in a deal that should be finalized according to reports the raiders will get a 6th or a 7th rounder back from arizona.a far cry from the 1st and a 2nd rounder the r

. >> could johnson & johnson be flashing a warning sign to the market? and nathan says yes on a trade that can make you money. break it down. plus, too hot. how would you like to make money in chipotle? the fast food giant, they'll show you how you can make money too. talk about genius. using apple mini options that can help you get your money back in apple stock. it's a pint size trade. the action begins now. >>> in the heart of "new york times" square, i'm melissa lee. these are the traders. opportunity is knocking. the goal tonight is clear. five names and strategies that can help you property from next week's news. let's get to "money" right now. could earnings kick it off next week? mike ko. what do you think? >> i don't think so. >> we're all bears. week after week after week you're bears. week after week the s&p 500 climbs to record highs. i want to point that out. >> let's take a look at a couple of things. one of them is that we are starting to see valuations get a little bit stretched. there's a lot of names that are trading at multiples that a

and really the people of johnson & johnson. so if you remember, when we spoke a year ago, we talked about a couple priorities that we had in place. one was making sure that we got our over-the-counter brands back on the market. relaunched in the right way. we've made a lot of progress. in just this last quarter wu saw about 14% growth in over the counter grands. we're starting to get products like tylenol, children's cough and cold back on the market. we've seen strong performance. we expect that by the end of the year we'll probably have about 75% of them back on the market. very impressively, too, is our pharmaceutical sector. almost by any measure if you look at new products launched, we've had a tremendous success story. products like prostate cancer. thrombosis. products for hepatitis c, hiv. very impressively, not only have we been able to launch products successfully but new products we have coming out like for b cell lymphoma have been designated as breakthrough by the fda. >> i want to talk more about the pharma busine

it just takes time. >> seems time ran out for jcpenney ceo ron johnson.the clock now ticking for the company's board? that's next. >> also, the banks have been leading this historic rally, as you know, but jeff cox says the banks could be heading for rough times and what could that do to the overall market? we'll talk about it, coming up on the "closing bell." tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 gives me tools that help me find opportunities more easily. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can even access it from the cloud and trade on any computer. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and with schwab mobile, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can focus on trading anyplace, anytime. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 until i choose to focus on something else. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 all this with no trade minimums. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and only $8.95 a trade. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 open an account with a $50,000 deposit, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and get 6 months commis

. >> steven johnson wants everyone to win it sounds like, joe, right? he is for everyone. >> reporter: say that again. >> he just wants everyone to win. reggie, what about you? >> reporter: you're right. >> you look through the performances joe was talking about. what was your favorite final four performance. >> i think you think i will go with bill in '73, the guy i grew up with, my mentors in '79 versus larry legend himself, larry bird. >> can you do the magic johnson smile? you don't have the teeth for it. i am sorry. >> sorry. >> i want to know if somebody else is going to join that list this weekend. heard stevie ment everybody else trey burke. i am watching trey burke big-time. this kid has no conscience. >> zero! >> take a look. >> three-point game. five seconds. fires for three! and the game is tied! he's tied it.

arrested johnson was in baltimore late this afternoon. >> johnny johnson has a lengthy criminal record that includes jobs, robbery. investigators say he was on drugs when he crossed in front of city hall and killed matthew hersl. ande are deeply soorowed hurting very badly over this tragedy. >> i cannot even express it. >> he and his family have experienced a wide range of emotion since the death of his beloved brother. police announced the arrest of 43-year-old johnny johnson. johnson was high on drugs and driving with carolyn and cocaine in his car when hit and killed -- and heroin and cocaine in his car when he hit and killed matthew hersl. >> i think proper justice will prevail. not not wish any -- i would want anybody to go with the pain that my family is going through. >> johnson was initially released from police custody after the crash, but state police said the investigation that followed revealed that he had drugs in his system. he was arrested on monday near his west baltimore home. all aspects of the investigation are ongoing. they're still asking for people who may have wi

ron johnson's predecessor becomes his successor.iest financial picture. they own 426 of its 1100 stores. jpmorgan values those at -- which works out to about $11 a share. when it comes to cash, j.c. penney has $930 million on the books. it's estimated they burned through $600 million more in the current quarter, which assumes same-store sales are down 50%. under johnson, they fell to 116 per square foot. to get back to the 2011 level, j.c. penney would have to average a 30 to 35% com store sales for the entire year, practically an impossible scenario. in 2012, j.c. penney they loss $25 million under alleman. jcpenney shares have lost 51% of their value under johnson's 17 months as ceo, but they lost 17% under alleman's seven-year reign. this is a mess. >> that's an excellent way of describing it. thank you very much for that, courtney reagan. let's take a look, meantime, how jcpenney shares are trading right now. it is currently down by 11% at 1409, which clearly showses what investors are feeling about all of this. joining us now f

i'm talking about johnson & johnson with the bountiful 3% yield.etter than 30-year treasuries, even without factoring in frankly the tax treatment for dividends. china has a aaa balance sheet, what country is that like? i like j&j so much i own it for my charitable trust. i'm anxious to buy more after that jpmorgan downgrade this morning. it was one of those downgrades based on valuation, i'm tired of hearing those. meaning the stock has moved up too fast. i find that premature. why do i disagree with jp morgan? simple, j&j is a big, messy company. it gets 38% of the sales from pharma. 41% from medical technology as well as 21% from the consumer products division. i think it's a classic case of a business begging to be broken up. j&j's pharma business has appeal here and the money managers are getting a higher valuation than the combined company does right now. meanwhile, the medical device and consumer parts of the company, they have a completely different set of cohorts. the wall street fashion show likes the stocks simple. right now, j&j is comp

as far as jack johnson was concerned, frederick had an influence on his life subject johnson is the first black heavyweight champion of the world. he defeated a series of racist boxers who refused to fight him for the racial reasons. but racism is very widespread in the north. he had a cafe in downtown chicago, and he also liked white girlfriends. the white authorities in chicago try to use the mann act against him, which is actually designed to prevent the movement of women across state lines and they try to hook the have one of a series of girlfriends and i was able to deduce from the records that i found in various places and newspaper articles that when jack johnson was being hounded in chicago, the news of the fact spread through the united states into the european newspapers frederick thomas reached out to him in a day after that happened and offered him tickets to come and put on exhibition fights in moscow and an advance against very generous prize money that he expected he would actually win. and jack johnson did go to europe although he didn't go straight to moscow. he spent mor

johnson & johnson doing well with over the counter drugs and drugs for hepatitis-c and or johnson & johnsono you. tracy: theyfor a while, right? we were in passive mode. now all of a sudden it is a wake-up. good to be with you too. look what sam stovall, he is with s&p capital iq. he says until the suspect is caught people are definitely going to be on edge. another reaction from chip cobb with raymar trust. we hope boston is a singular event. we have the president of planned financial services. look at this. he says it won't have any bearing on the market. that north korea is a bigger effect on market. and worldwide volatility is more to do with worldwide volatility. according to sec filings, increasingly companies are worried about north korea. there are more disclosures about north korea in sec filings. a jump of 29% for the first quarter of this year versus a juor beating expectations. that is the nail of the game right now, guys. tracy: do you think we're numb to it, liz? >> numb to it? when you talk to the guys on wall street, they are serious, this is according to one analyst who is

i'm talking about johnson & johnson and coca cola. when you have any kind of selloff it's almost always because of fears about a steep slowdown in the economy. now it's the global economy. yeah, the worries used to be united states centric. and perhaps the economy had been growing too hot. and the fed was raising rates. perhaps the monthly employment numbers showed a sudden reduction, as we saw in the late summer of 2007, which ushered in the great recession. maybe there is a shocking shutdown in retail sales. now, i'm not saying that every single selloff plays out like this, but the vast majority of them actually really do. of course, lately we have a new element. we are all one world these days and a slowdown in china is now greeted as more of a threat to our stock market than an actual slowdown here in the united states. crazy, but it's true. when you get these kind of jitters, which include the requisite collapse in commodities like oil and copper and the markets sell, sell, sell, decline can't be combatted overnight because it's

johnson isn't that guy.e's that guy because of what happened at apple with their retail stores but i think it is a major misconception most people share. >> he had a good reputation in apple and apple is a legendary company. did people just misunderstand, just applied apple's success and assumed he had something to do with it when it is just that apple is fantastic? >> i think so. i think what happened was steve jobs very clearly had a vision for retail. he knew what he wanted apple stores to look like from everything from the design to product placement to how they were going to market them and ron johnson to his credit to be fair is a business person. he is a great mba, great manager. he implemented, executed steve jobs' vision. we can't forget about mickey drexler the chairman and ceo of j. crew. he and jobs worked together for years and his pint was crucial in terms of envisioning the apple concept. those guys envisioned it. johnson to his credit implemented it. they need a visionary at j.c. penney. that

we had very strong earnings out of johnson & johnson. coca-cola was up 5.6%. had hca. goldman sachs didn't do well. we saw the up side lookg across many of their banking lines. earnings were good. the market needed to see even if this is a organized global act of terrorism, it wasn't citiwide. that t surprises stopped. that now we recover and figure out what happened in boston. melissa: jason, do youagree with that? >> i agree with the latter part of it. i personally was a little surprised we didn't have some follow-through from yesterday. melissa: yeah. >> a lot of that was confusing with the unwinding of the overcrowded commodities trade and quite frankly i'm, you know, i'm very bullish going into yesterday d today, you can't throw any worse news at the marketplace. this is a very bullish sign going forward. i love the market here and going higher. melissa: kyle, i mean there is kind of two sides to this. ere is what jason just said. it makes you feel very positive the market was able to bounce back. at the same time we saw more security incidents in boston and new y

---jc penny thought ron johnson would bring the magic from apple to penny's. as ceo, johnson's vision was to freshen up the store's staid image and go after younger, more brand-conscious millennial shoppers. as our cover story explains, it wound up turning into a retail disaster that alienated its customer base before the new one had been lured in. ron johnson's tenure as penny's ceo was short--just 17-months and by many accounts--not at all sweet. his strategy to stock higher-end merchandise and lose the discount coupons drove away the store's value- conscious customer base well before sought-after millennial customers knew the 110-year-old department store chain even existed. "you can't be someone's #5 store on their shopping list if you're trying to reinvent yourself solely through that customer base." sales fell 32% in last year's 4th quarter--when holiday seasonal shopping is at its peak. company stock dropped 53%. the company may have been boring before but analysts say johnson drove it toward the rocks too soon for his vision to catch on. without revenu

take johnson & johnson.was an excellent one, mostly because with the exception of medical devices the drug and consumer franchises were quite strong. and while i was incredibly impressed by the growth of some of their franchises, particularly oncology and neuroscience sales, the nature of the medical device numbers, hips, knees, and the like totally freaked out the analysts on the call. i don't know if this is because many analysts were trying to model all the other device companies using j&j as a template. maybe they were concerned that surgical procedures were down, something hca the hospital company flagged the other day. maybe they were trying to figure out if it lost share, perhaps because of the lawsuits and negative publicity. they weren't clear about their motives but the takeaway was this division could be the achilles heel of johnson & johnson. i think the critics were myopic and the growth of the other businesses plus the strong balance sheet, the prospects of a dividend boost and the distancing o

he described ron johnson during his visit. he has been incredibly critical of as delightful and energetic. he said the shops look good but the customer will decide whether this new thing actually works. we will find out when that first shop is scheduled to open in may. the largest shareholder, has the big long position in j.c. penney was making comments today as well at a conference up in boston and he said the criticism of j.c. penney, and he has been ron johnson's biggest defender and j.c. penney's biggest defender to date. in his words, too much change too quickly without adequate testing and that so far the execution has been -- again, in bill's words, something very close to a disaster. no surprise then that we just found out in the annual report that ron johnson got no bonus. his total pay was $1.9 million after some 50 some on million a year ago. >> and he bought a lot of stock which is basically worthless. i think it's overstating it to say that allen was optimistic by what he saw. i don't think he was willing to go th