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Sept 4 (Reuters) – The chief financial officer of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc ( BBBY.O ) fell to his death from the skyscraper in New York’s Tribeca known as the “Jenga” tower on Friday afternoon, he said on Sunday police, days after the struggling retailer announced it. was closing stores and laying off workers.
Gustavo Arnal, 52, joined Bed Bath & Beyond ( BBBY.O ) in 2020. He previously worked as CFO of cosmetics brand Avon in London and had a 20-year stint at Procter & Gamble (PG.N), according to his LinkedIn. Profile.
At 12:30 pm ET (16:30 GMT) on Friday, police responded to a 911 call and found a 52-year-old man dead near the building from injuries sustained in a fall. The police identified the man as Gustavo Arnal.
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The police statement did not provide further details about the circumstances leading to Arnal’s death and said the New York City medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death. Bed Bath & Beyond confirmed his death in a press release Sunday, but did not provide details.
The big-box chain, once considered a so-called “category killer” in home and bath, has seen its fortunes crumble after an attempt to sell more own-brand products or private label
Last week, Bed Bath & Beyond said it would close 150 stores, cut jobs and overhaul its merchandising strategy to try to turn around its money-losing business.
It forecast a bigger-than-expected 26% drop in same-store sales for the second quarter and said it would retain its buybuy Baby business, which it had put up for sale. Read more
Signage is seen at a Bed Bath & Beyond store in Manhattan, New York, U.S., June 29, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
Arnal sold 55,013 shares of Bed Bath & Beyond in multiple transactions on Aug. 16-17, according to Reuters calculations based on SEC filings. Sales totaled about $1.4 million, and Arnal still had nearly 255,400 shares left.
On August 23, the company, Arnal and major shareholder Ryan Cohen were sued over allegations that they artificially inflated the company’s stock price in a “bomb and dump” scheme, with the lawsuit alleged that Arnal sold his shares at a higher price after the plan. .
The class action lawsuit listed Arnal as one of the defendants and was filed by a group of shareholders who claimed to have lost about $1.2 billion.
The filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleged that Arnal “agreed to regulate all insider sales by officers and directors of BBBY to ensure that the market would not be flooded with a large number of shares of BBBY at a given time.”
The lawsuit also alleged that he made materially misleading statements to investors.
The company said it was “in the early stages of evaluating the complaint, but based on current knowledge, the company believes the claims are without merit.”
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond have been highly volatile in recent months, being seen as a so-called “meme” stock that trades more on social media sentiment than economic fundamentals.
Cohen, a billionaire investor, disclosed a stake of nearly 10% in early March. Cohen’s RC Ventures revealed its plans to sell its stake on August 17. Read more
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Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Akriti Sharma in Bangalore; additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Deepa Babington
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