Martha Stewart (Robin Platzer, Twin Images)
Martha Stewart and JCPenney hopped into bed together yesterday — leaving their jilted partners to read about it in the news.
The 70-year-old home-decor queen cut a deal to sell nearly 17 percent of her struggling company to Penney for $38.5 million in cash, and inked a long-term licensing partnership for home goods — without first consulting Macy’s, which has stocked an exclusive line of her kitchenware, bedding, bath products and furniture for the past four years.
Meanwhile, Penney CEO Ron Johnson — a former Apple exec who took the helm at the department-store chain only last month — gave the Irish good-bye to Penney’s own celebrity designer in home furnishings, Chris Madden.
“It was a total surprise to me,” Madden, a longtime HGTV host and designer for Oprah Winfrey and Katie Couric, told The Post. “I found out about it this morning when I Googled the news.”
Insiders said the 52-year-old Johnson had been wooing Martha Stewart months ago, before he even became CEO at Penney. But as of yesterday afternoon — hours after the deal was announced — Madden said the retailer still hadn’t contacted her about the situation, which appeared to be the effective end of her deal.
“I sold over $1.5 billion in products at JCPenney over eight years, and had a wonderful team of workers there,” she said. “I was not expecting to hear this.”
Officials at Penney and Martha Stewart didn’t respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Macy’s, in a statement, said it is “reviewing the Martha Stewart products sold at Macy’s for potential changes in the future,” noting “the proliferation of Martha Stewart-branded product in the marketplace.”
A Macy’s spokesman added that “no decisions have been made.” Still, insiders speculated that Macy’s may dump Martha altogether, despite the fact that 11 years remain on their contract and she’s regularly featured in Macy’s ads and TV commercials.
“This is a tough spot for Macy’s,” said Michael Stone of the Beanstalk Group. “If they dump Martha, they’ve got to replace her, and that’s not simple.”
In 2007, Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren was irked when Liz Claiborne agreed to do an exclusive clothing line with Penney called Liz & Co. In response, Lundgren booted Liz Claiborne from Macy’s.
Under yesterday’s deal, Penney will open Martha Stewart shops inside its stores by February 2013. In a plan cooked up by Johnson and Stewart, the shops will be staffed by home-decor experts, much like the tech-savvy sales teams at Apple’s “Genius Bars.”
Johnson, earlier in his career, had worked at Target where he won an exclusive line of trendy home products by Michael Graves that helped earn the discounter its “cheap chic” reputation.
Martha Stewart’s cash-strapped company, which has lost money in eight of its last 10 quarters amid an advertising slump at its publishing and broadcasting divisions, expects to register $200 million in revenue under a 10-year Penney pact.
After yesterday’s announcement of the deal, which is priced at $3.50 a share, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia shares surged 33 percent to $4.16. Penney shares rose 21 cents to $33.51.