William A. Ackman, the famous hedge fund manager has placed a big bet on J. C. Penney. Now it seems that the retail firm will allow him to have a say in how to fix it.

Monday, Penney's stated that it would take the names of the head of Pershing Square Capital Management, Mr. Ackman and the chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, Steven Roth, to its board; months following the two investors revealed their major stakes in the company.

The step taken by Penney's is for keeping a civil relationship with the two as it wants to rebuild its business after a slowdown in consumer spending, particularly among the middle-income customers that the company relies on the most.

The incident can be seen as another victory for activist investors, who have come back once more as powerful forces meant for shaking up firm in a bid to boost up lagging stock prices. In the month of October, both Pershing and Vornado revealed their ownership of nearly twenty seven percent of Penney's stock, making the company take prompt action for imposing a shareholder rights plan to cap the size of any one investor's stake.

Mr. Ackman has already bagged one victory in recent months: Fortune Brands, a producer of hardware, home and office products, golf equipment, as well as wine and spirits, announced in the month of December that it planned to divide itself up into its three sectional businesses - two months following the announcement of the hedge fund manager that he had bought a big stake in that company.

Myron E. Ullman III, Penney's chief executive, stated on Monday that allowing Mr. Ackman and Mr. Roth to join the board happened due to talks with the two investors.

As soon as he came to know about the stock purchases by Vornado and Pershing, Mr. Ullman invited the two investors to Penney's headquarters in Plano, Tex. He described that talks that happened were constructive.