Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, ending a tumultuous chapter for the struggling home goods retailer.
The company had spent the past year making a series of job cuts and store closing announcements while simultaneously looking for financing options to stay afloat.
The company said in a statement that «it and certain of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey to implement an orderly liquidation of its businesses while conducting a limited marketing process to solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of its assets.»
Came after Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the company had renewed bankruptcy discussions, while the Wall Street Journal reported The company was facing imminent default as its efforts to raise cash were unsuccessful and it was facing the possibility of liquidation.
Bed Bath & Beyond had apparently exhausted its options to avoid this moment, according to Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail.
“They had some very specific problems and they made some really bad strategic mistakes,” Saunders said in an interview, “but the retail environment is much more pressured now.”
Ultimately, a combination of longstanding internal problems and economic headwinds made bankruptcy appear inevitable, Saunders said.
The company had gone through three chief executives since 2019 as it responded to two different sets of activist shareholders seeking to reform Bed Bath & Beyond’s business.
The involvement of the most recent activist, GameStop president Ryan Cohen, breathed new life into the company’s stock a year ago. But just five months after naming three board members, Cohen sold his shares in the company, sending his stock plummeting in value.
Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.
Founded as Bed ‘n Bath by businessmen Warren Eisenberg and Leonard Feinstein in 1971, the first two stores opened in Springfield, New Jersey and Cedarhurst, New York. The company went public in 1992 and, as of 2019, had a market value of $2.3 billion and employed 62,000 people.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted earlier this yearEisenberg was candid about what helped fuel the company’s demise:
“We missed the boat on the Internet,” he said.