Is Mike Ullman the Jay Leno of the Corporate World?

He lost his job in 2011. Now

has asked its former CEO, Mike Ullman, to come back and save the struggling retailer.

Ullman was more or less ousted in 2011 after activist investor Bill Ackman

. The investor was unhappy with J.C. Penney's stock performance, which plummeted more than 60 percent during Ullman's last four years on the job. Ackman also wanted to hire Ron Johnson, a popular executive from

and a rising star within the retail industry. The initial decision appeared to be a popular one, but that quickly changed after sales (and J.C. Penney shares) continued to tumble. The retailer has now been forced to swallow its pride and re-hire the man it ousted for a younger, hipper executive. This is not all that different from a controversial decision that NBC -- once owned by

, now owned by

-- made in 2004. Looking to the future, NBC decided to replace

host Jay Leno with Conan O'Brien. While the exact terms of the agreement have never been revealed, many believed that NBC gave Conan the show to keep him from jumping to another network. Leno more or less

when he announced his first retirement. Unlike Ullman, Leno was at the top of his game. He was the late-night talk show leader with

. Ignoring this, NBC told Leno to step down. He accepted and walked away. That would have been the end of the story, but NBC executives were unwilling to let Leno go to another network. After his contract expired, they asked the comedian to host a 10:00 p.m. talk show. The concept ultimately failed but still proved to be more popular than the

. Meanwhile, Conan drew

than his Tonight Show predecessor, prompting NBC to rethink its strategy. The network told Conan that it wanted to move his show to 12:05 a.m. to make room for a new 30-minute show for Leno. Conan

. With no other options, NBC was forced to fire Conan. The network then asked Leno to host

again. According to

, Leno believed that it would be his last contract with NBC. He was right. Similarly, Ullman is only expected to serve as J.C. Penney's interim CEO. In the meantime, the ailing retailer will search for another young soul -- its very own Jimmy Fallon, if you will -- to step into the spotlight. Ullman is not the first corporate figure to get the Leno treatment. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was famously fired from the

. The Cupertino, California-based tech giant swallowed its pride and

more than a decade later. Richard Schulze, founder and chairman of

,

after failing to disclose what he knew about the scandal involving former Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn. Schulze returned to Best Buy last month,

of chairman emeritus. Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of

, had a much less troubling journey. After willingly retiring in 2000, Schultz returned as CEO in 2008 when the company needed him most.