J.C. Penney and Ackman Come to an Agreement

Troubled retailer J.C. Penney disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday that it entered into a Registration Rights Agreement with Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square and its affiliates that gives Ackman an out to completely walk away from the company. Under the deal, Ackman, whose firm owns about 18 percent of Penney, can make up to four requests to Penney to register the sale of his restricted common stock. The billionaire investor resigned from the board earlier this week on the heels of a heated public battle with the board, in which he called for a quick replacement for interim CEO Myron Ullman and a new chairman.