The company also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in late March that it planned to sell $300 million worth of shares to avoid bankruptcy filing.
Bed Bath & Beyond’s recently appointed president and CEO Sue Gove blamed the poor holiday performance on inventory constraints and reduced credit limits that resulted in shortages of merchandise on store shelves. Bed Bath & Beyond had been trying to turn around its business and slash costs after previous management’s new strategies worsened a sales slump. The company announced last August it would close about 150 of its namesake stores and slash its workforce by 20%. It also lined up more than $500 million of new financing.
In late 2019, Bed Bath & Beyond tapped Target executive Mark Tritton to take the helm and turn around sales. Tritton quickly reduced coupons and started to introduce store label brands at the expense of national labels, a strategy that proved disastrous for the retailer. Bed Bath & Beyond’s shares, which were trading at distressed levels, have also been on a turbulent run. It made a monstrous run from $5.77 to $23.08 in a little more than two weeks in August. The trading was reminiscent of last year’s meme-stock craze, when out-of-favor companies suddenly became darlings of smaller-pocketed investors.Article content