A strange investment Vornado's investment in J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) was bizarre from day one. When Vornado first invested in J.C. Penney, most market watchers assumed that it was going after the company's real estate. Bill Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund had recently purchased 16.5% of J.C. Penney shares, and Vornado announced intentions to work with Ackman's fund. Ackman had earlier led an activist campaign to get Target to spin off its real estate assets as a REIT, which lent credence to the idea that the Pershing Square and Vornado investments were part of a strategy to unlock real estate value. However, that never happened. Instead, the two groups helped mastermind the hiring of former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) retail head Ron Johnson as the new CEO, with a mandate to "transform" J.C. Penney.