JCPenney Directors May Push To Sell The Company Or Replace CEO Ron Johnson

JCPenney's board of directors may push to sell the ailing retailer or replace CEO Ron Johnson if sales don't turn around "this year," sources told Dana Mattioli at The Wall Street Journal.

This news comes shortly after Steven Roth's Vornado Realty Trust moved to get rid of more than 40 percent of its stake.

Roth was activist investor Bill Ackman's biggest ally on JCPenney's board, and Ackman is a loyal Johnson loyal supporter.

The hedge funder brought in the former Apple retail chief to turn things around at the department store chain in late 2011.

Johnson has repeatedly stated that the turnaround attempt is nowhere near complete. Ackman has given him a deadline of three years.

"If three years from now, Ron Johnson is still struggling to turn around JCPenney, then he's probably the wrong guy," Ackman said on CNBC last month.

But with sales plummeting and support waning on the board, it may not end up being Ackman's call to make.

Here's the full list of JCPenney board members:

• Ron Johnson — Chief Executive Officer, J. C. Penney Company, Inc.

• Thomas Engibous — Chairman, J. C. Penney Company, Inc. Retired Chairman of the Board, Texas Instruments Inc.

• William Ackman — Founder and CEO, Pershing Square Capital Management

• Colleen Barrett — President Emeritus, Southwest Airlines Co.

• Kent Foster — Retired Chairman of the Board, Ingram Micro Inc.

• Geraldine Laybourne — Founder and Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Oxygen Media

• Leonard Roberts – Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, RadioShack Corporation

• Steven Roth — Chairman of the Board, Vornado Realty Trust

• Javier Teruel — Retired Vice Chairman, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Partner, Spectron Desarrollo, SC

• R. Gerald Turner — President, Southern Methodist University

• Mary Beth West — Executive Vice President and Chief Category and Marketing Officer, Kraft Foods Inc