The CFO of Bed Bath & Beyond jumped from the 16th floor of a luxury tower
A tragic end to the life of the senior executive at the bath and home products giant, he received the prestigious position only two years ago – since then the company has struggled with financial difficulties, at the same time there are reports that he abused his power to personally profit from the company’s shares
Bed, Bath and Beyond CFO Gustavo Arenal has been identified as the man who jumped to his death from the 60-story “Jenga Building” in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood on Friday.
The 52-year-old executive fell from the 18th floor but was not publicly identified until Sunday morning by the New York Post, which noted that Arenal had sold exactly 42,513 shares on August 16, at a price of just over $1 million.
Arnell joined the company in 2020 after working as CFO of Avon and as a director at Procter & Gamble.
Bed, Bath & Beyond has been on a financial “roller coaster” for the past month.
The price of its shares reached as high as $28 per share just a few days ago during the “Mem Stock” rally, but after that, investor Ryan Cohen left his position in the company, sending the shares plummeting.
In the days after the departure, the company announced plans to try and reduce costs and stave off bankruptcy, including a financing agreement of approximately $500 million to help pay its suppliers.
The company also published a statement and strategic and business updates in which it announced store closures and workforce reductions.
The plan included the closing of about 150 stores (out of 1000) and a reduction of 20% of the workforce. ,
The company also submitted a request for the sale of its common shares.
“We may offer, issue and sell some of our common stock from time to time,” said the S-3 form filed by the corporation just a few days ago. ,
But the measures did not convince the street, and many on Wall Street announced that they had given up on Bed Bath & Beyond and left the “meme stock” to the “monkeys”. ,
Analysts at Raymond James called the plan “kicking the can down the street,” and they suggest it’s only a matter of time before the giant retailer struggling with the online world faces outright bankruptcy.
By the end of last week, the company’s stock had fallen back to a single-digit price, closing at $8, a drop of more than 65% from the highs it set just a few days ago.
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