Second Round of Job Cuts Managed by Parent Company JCPenney: Layoffs to 9% of Corporate Staff

Catalyst Brands has now initiated 9% job cuts in its corporate workforce in efforts to structure and streamline the operations. As with the last lay-off currently on April 9, it comes only two months after its first lay-off in February, where some 5 percent were cut off from the company’s workforce.

Catalyst previously boasted some 5,000 employees before layoffs started. With the two rounds combined, the company has now affected a large portion of its corporate team.

The company background continued that it is still early in the integrating efforts and, after reviewing the organization, has found a lot of opportunities to ”optimize structure and roles.” On the hard choices that his line of decisions demands, he still agrees that “there is success in helping the company focus on its mission provision of quality products at great value to the customers.”

Marc Rosen, erstwhile CEO of JCPenney, today is leading Catalyst as its CEO. The organization has run into problems lately. For one, JCPenney posted a drop of 8 percent in quarterly sales revenues, amounting to $1.4 billion, and saw EBITDA plummet to $66 million, translating to nearly 64 percent lost. However, the bottom line is now improved.

Under normal conditions, store closures might be widespread, only that two of the owners of JCPenney also happen to be major landlords and allegedly do not want the closing of retail locations.