Ackman Dumps Entire 17.7% Share of J.C. Penney

August 26, 2013 by Douglas A. McIntyre

Clothes on hangersWilliam Ackman too a huge stake in J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) in the belief that its shares would soar on the basis of a turnaround. He helped bring in Ron Johnson from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to become chief executive. Ackman also had a hand in pushing Johnson out. His ongoing battle with the J.C. Penney board led to his eventual resignation from the body. SEC filings showed that Ackman had put his Pershing Square Capital in a position to sell its stock.

Today, the transaction was completed and Ackman lost hundreds of millions of dollars as he walked away.

In an SEC filing, J.C. Penney reported:

SELLING STOCKHOLDERS
The following table sets forth the number and percentages of the beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock by the Selling Stockholders, and reflects the sale of the shares registered for resale and offered pursuant to this prospectus supplement. We refer to all such shares, collectively, as the “offered shares.”

The number of shares beneficially owned by the Selling Stockholders is determined by SEC rules. The information does not necessarily indicate beneficial ownership for any other purpose. The percentage of shares beneficially owned before and after this offering is based on 220,455,870 outstanding shares of our common stock as of August 20, 2013. Since the Selling Stockholders may sell all, some or none of the offered shares, we cannot estimate the number of offered shares that will be sold or that will be owned upon completion of the offering. In the table below, we have assumed that the Selling Stockholders have sold all of the shares offered for resale by this prospectus supplement.

Beneficial Owner Shares beneficially owned prior to the offering
Number of shares offered hereby
Shares beneficially owned after the offering
Number Percentage Number Percentage
William A. Ackman(1) 39,075,771 17.7% 39,075,771 — —
Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P.(1) 39,075,771 17.7% 39,075,771 — —
PS Management GP, LLC(1) 39,075,771 17.7% 39,075,771 — —
Pershing Square GP, LLC(2) 13,644,593 6.2% 13,644,593 — —
Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. 8,718,176 4.0% 8,718,176 — —
Pershing Square, L.P. 13,369,366 6.1% 13,369,366 — —
Pershing Square II, L.P. 275,227 0.1% 275,227 — —
Pershing Square International, Ltd. 16,713,002 7.6% 16,713,002 — —
Total(3) 39,075,771 17.7% 39,075,771 — —

(1) Each of William A. Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. and PS Management GP, LLC beneficially own the shares held directly by
Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd., Pershing Square, L.P., Pershing Square II, L.P. and Pershing Square International, Ltd. pursuant to SEC rules.
(2) Pershing Square GP, LLC beneficially owns the shares held directly by Pershing Square, L.P. and Pershing Square II, L.P. pursuant to SEC rules.
(3) Represents the total number of shares offered hereby.

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