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1. J.C. PENNEY SHAKEN BY CEO'S FIRING

J.C. Penney shares fell by 2 percent in early trading on Tuesday, after the company's board of directors pushed out CEO Ron Johnson in the middle of his overhaul of the struggling retailer's stores. Penney poached Johnson from Apple 17 months ago, hoping that he could turn the chain around. His renovations and new product lines, such as Joe Fresh, were well received, but his sharp reduction of clearance sales alienated once loyal customers. Penney sales fell by 25 percent in the 12 months ending Feb. 2. Johnson's predecessor, Mike Ullman, is getting his old job back. Retail investors and corporate governance experts harshly criticized the move, saying that Ullman was the one who created the problems Johnson was hired to fix. [Reuters]

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.