Still, CEO Sue Gove - who joined the company as a director in 2019 and was appointed CEO in October - said Bed, Bath & Beyond remains focused on transforming the organization and building progress quarter by quarter. 5 statement said the company, which also owns buybuy Baby and Harmon Face Values, continues to struggle with inventory - and its ability to catch up is stifled by reduced credit limits. By the second quarter of 2022, reported in September, the company reported drop of 28% in net sales year-over-year, and a negative free cash flow of $320.5 million. The company also reported nearly $1.2 billion in long-term debt. Net losses in fiscal 2021 came in at $559.6 million, more than double the $150.8 million net loss reported in fiscal year 2020. Then in October, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded it to Caa2, just several steps from the bottom, citing a “high likelihood of default over the next 12 months.” The late summer of 2022 saw Tritton’s exit, staff cuts and store closures, as well as the sudden death of CFO Gustavo Arnal. But those plans, compounded by the pandemic’s shutdowns and supply chain disruptions, failed to turn sales in the right direction. Former CEO Mark Tritton, brought in from Target in late 2019 following a takeover attempt by activist investors, put forward a turnaround effort centered on private label launches and retooled store layouts. Bed Bath & Beyond then said it would sell more shares in an effort to stave off a filing.The announcement arrives after years of net losses, new merchandising strategies and cuts to operations. But the company failed to meet stock-price minimums, and the deal was terminated. The retailer had received a last-minute lifeline from the hedge fund Hudson Bay Capital Management - a deal that would have given Bed Bath & Beyond more than $1 billion under certain conditions. And notwithstanding painstaking, creative, and exhaustive efforts to right the ship along the way, Bed Bath & Beyond is simply unable to service its funded debt obligations while simultaneously supplying sufficient inventory to its store locations,” according to the statement. “But, in-store sales continued to decline - with fourth quarter sales falling by almost $1 billion dollars year over year - and strained vendor credit relationships which led to a lack of inventory. “Defying all expectations over the past four months, Bed Bath & Beyond secured credit agreement waivers and amendments and was able to access the equity markets in February and March in a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy,” Etlin said in a sworn statement. The company’s chief financial officer, Holly Etlin, will serve as chief restructuring officer to manage the bankruptcy. “Bed Bath & Beyond has pulled off long shot transactions several times in the last six months, so nobody should think Bed Bath & Beyond will not be able to do so again,” the filing said. However, we have initiated a process to wind down operations.” “Our stores are open and serving customers. “We appreciate that our customers have trusted us through the most important milestones in their lives,” the company said in an email to shoppers. Bed Bath & Beyond expects all sales at the remaining brick-and-mortar stores to be completed and the properties vacated by June 30. The timing of the winddown will be swift, according to court documents. A year ago Bed Bath & Beyond was trading above $17 a share. ![]() ![]() Shares of the company fell as much as 40% to about 18 cents during Monday trading in New York. The company currently employs about 14,000 people in the US and Puerto Rico, and among its initial requests in bankruptcy is to pay about $76 million of employee wages and benefits. ![]() The shuttering of one of America’s most well-known home goods retailers will put the jobs of thousands of employees - and their retirement savings and severance pay - on the line. The filing will allow it to begin liquidating 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 Buy Buy Baby shops immediately, though the company said it’s also searching for a buyer for some or all of its assets. The Union, New Jersey-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, a move that came months after saying it was weighing options to restructure debt, with “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating.
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