Early retirement 
 
 The early retirement offer, which is based on age and years with the company, shouldn't be viewed as a desperation move, Ellison said. The news came as the Plano, Texas-based chain posted a profit in the fourth-quarter compared to a loss a year ago. "When we look at the state of the consumer, by every measure, there are no flags for why the consumer would pull back spending," Ellison said. Penney plans to open 70 more Sephora shops in its stores this year and salons made a strong turnaround in 2016, after being a drag for several years, he said. In the fourth quarter, top performing areas included home, Sephora, its salon business and fine jewelry. Penney's Ellison said he understands that closing stores will affect the lives of its employees and that is why it decided to initiate a voluntary early retirement program. He says by coordinating the timing of these two events, he can expect to see a net increase in hiring, as the number of full-time workers expected to take advantage of the early retirement incentive will far exceed the number of full-time positions affected by the closures. Penney reported a fourth-quarter profit of $192 million, or 61 cents a share, compared to a loss of $131 million, or 43 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thompson Reuters were looking for a profit of 61 cents a share and sales of $3.98 billion. Revenue totaled $3.96 billion in the period, down 0.9 percent from a year ago. Sales at stores opened at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer's health, were down 0.7 percent. The misses drove Penney's stock down by 40 cents, or almost 6 percent, to close Friday at $6.46 a share.
– JCPenney says it will be closing 130 to 140 stores over the next several months as it aims to improve online sales, reports the AP. Locations will be announced next month. CEO Marvin Ellison says the company also is offering an early retirement program to 6,000 employees, per the Dallas News. The closures represent about 13% of the chain's stores and less than 5% of total annual sales. The news came as the Texas-based chain posted a profit in the fourth-quarter compared to a loss a year ago. But total sales were down slightly, and a key revenue metric declined slightly as well. JCPenney has been recovering from a catastrophic reinvention plan under former CEO Ron Johnson that sent sales and profits into a free-fall in 2012 and 2013. Business stabilized under Mike Ullman, who took the helm in 2013 after Johnson was pushed out. Under Ellison, who has been CEO since 2015, Penney is looking for new ways to increase sales while improving its e-commerce. But while annual sales were down, what's encouraging is JCPenney's profit picture. It was able to pull in a $1 million profit for the full fiscal year, the first time it earned an annual profit since 2010. JCPenney is joining other department stores like Macy's that are shrinking their footprints amid challenges in the industry.