J.C. Penney's Johnson has Backing to Weather Sales Plunge

J.C. Penney's Chief Executive Ron Johnson has two key weapons in his arsenal as he tries to weather plunging sales while radically transforming the aged retailer — the backing of its top investor, and cash. Those two assets help Johnson exude confidence on days like Friday, when the retailer reported its worst drop yet in same-store sales since he began his radical transformation of the department store chain earlier this year. Same-store sales fell 26.1 percent in the latest quarter, while analysts had expected a decrease of 17.9 percent.