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There's no-one happier than Bill Ackman right now about JC Penney's new acquisition: Apple's SVP of Retail, Ron Johnson.

Ackman's hedge fund, Pershing Square, is JC Penney's largest shareholder -- as of March, the hedge fund owned 39,075,771 shares.

Yesterday at the close of trade, that stake was worth about $1,176,600,000.

After news of the Johnson's hiring as CEO, the stock has surged. It's now hovering at about $35.23.

That means that since the opening bell, the value of Ackman's stake just jumped up by about $200 million to approximately $1,376,600,000.

Not bad for half a day's work.

Of course, Ackman always had faith in JC anyway, pretty or not.

If we learned anything about Bill Ackman at the Ira Sohn Conference, it's this: the man isn't blinded by pretty lights and retail glam when he's investing. The Pershing Square manager revealed a new bullish position in Family Dollar at the event.

At the conference, he specifically noted: "They're not the most beautiful stores... but there's room to grow."

And that yes, the merchandising is a little messy -- "Last time I was there, I saw Dan Loeb working his way through the shelves and he couldn't find his surfing wax" -- but management is great and the investor base is becoming respectable.

Still, the fact that Apple's retail empire generates $3.19 billion in sales for Apple (13% of the company's total revenue), and Johnson -- now JC Penney's CEO -- headed up that division, will have made Ackman giddy.

Ackman said today that JC Penney's hiring of Johnson is "a credit to the company," according to Bloomberg.

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