JCPenney may be a sinking ship, but Bill Ackman is sticking around to bail it out.
The New York hedge-fund tycoon is expected to stay put as JCPenney’s biggest investor, with a nearly 18 percent stake, and back the retailer’s scramble to repair the damage done by ousted CEO Ron Johnson, sources told The Post.
That’s despite the fact that it was Ackman who installed Johnson at the helm of the company 17 months ago with an ambitious but doomed plan to overhaul the aging department-store chain.
“The priority right now is stabilizing the company and finding a permanent CEO,” according to an insider close to the situation, adding that Ackman appeared to be playing a key role in the process.
Ackman declined to comment.
Sources said he will keep his seat on Penney’s board and remains involved in grappling with the company’s cash crisis, which has stoked fears that the retailer could be forced into bankruptcy.
Penney’s board is weighing a deal to raise cash with a loan backed by the company’s real estate, according to a source close to the retailer.
That’s a move likely being driven by Ackman, who in the past has pressured companies including Target and Wendy’s to maximize the value of their real estate.
“They’re looking to announce [a real-estate deal] by the end of the quarter,” one insider said.
While Penney’s real estate has been valued at more than $1 billion, the company would likely collateralize less than half that amount, according to the source.
“They just need to raise enough to soothe the worries about Chapter 11,” the source said.
Last month, Penney’s shares took a hit when real-estate magnate Steve Roth, CEO of Vornado, disclosed he had unloaded 40 percent of a 10-percent stake in the retailer.
“It’s painfully awkward,” said one Penney insider briefed on the situation. “But [Ackman is] the one who broke it and he wants to stick around to fix it.”
Speculation that Ackman was heading for the exits intensified yesterday, as Penney’s shares tumbled more than 12 percent to close at $13.93 after hitting an intraday low of $13.90 — their worst since the depths of the recession in 2009.
Johnson’s disastrous turnaround bid, which sent revenue plunging 25 percent last year and spurred a loss of nearly $1 billion, has dented Ackman’s reputation as an investor and left him with a paper loss of more than $500 million.
The embarrassments for Ackman piled up this week, as Penney fired Johnson on Monday only to replace him with former CEO Mike Ullman — the 66-year-old retail veteran who Ackman unseated in 2011 to make way for Johnson.
Ullman, who Ackman had blasted as Penney’s profits and stock price waned during the latter half of his seven-year tenure, has been tapped to head the company on an interim basis, sources said.