Bed Bath & Beyond files for Chapter 11 "reorganization" bankruptcy following shady board moves and corporate virtue signaling
By ethanh // 2023-04-24
Copy
 
After a rocky road of questionable and possibly illegal moves by CEO Sue Gove and other corrupt members of the company's board, retailer Bed Bath & Beyond has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a reorganization strategy that, unlike Chapter 7 bankruptcy, still allows a company to continue operating while it purportedly tries to fix its financial problems. According to reports, Bed Bath & Beyond currently has 360 namesake stores, along with 120 buybuy BABY stores, that will remain open and fully operational for now while the company pursues its next steps. As of Monday, the company's current leadership is trying to make a case before the bankruptcy court requesting a liquidation procedure that benefits creditors and the executives who some believe intentionally drove the company into the ground to benefit short hedge funds that were banking on a company bankruptcy. The current chapter of the Bed Bath & Beyond saga goes back at least a year when activist investor Ryan Cohen purchased a 9.8 percent stake in the company via his RC Ventures entity back in March of 2022. Prior to that, Bed Bath & Beyond had been on a downward slide under the leadership of former CEO Mark Tritton, who was appointed to his position in 2019 after working for Target. Cohen installed a few board members and made recommendations for a turnaround, only to later sell his stake in the company on August 16 during a run on the stock price. Cohen was forced to disclose this sale publicly after a previous share buyback by Gove pushed his ownership stake above the 10 percent threshold, prompting accusations that he engaged in an illegal pump-and-dump of the stock. Cohen, the current chairman of GameStop, pocketed $68 million in profits from these actions, and Bed Bath & Beyond has been on a downward spiral ever since with Gove initiating a series of "death spiral" financing deals that resulted in massive stock dilution at all-time-low stock prices. (Related: Check out our earlier coverage explaining how corrupt consulting groups like BCG [Boston Consulting Group] infiltrate companies in order to send them in the direction Wall Street wants them to go.)

Did Sue Gove intentionally sabotage Bed Bath & Beyond to help Wall Street hedge funds and private equity vultures?

By all appearances, Bed Bath & Beyond was gutted from the inside and made to fail at the behest of Wall Street hedge funds and private equity vultures. The company now plans to liquidate its assets while Gove and the rest aim to grab their golden parachutes and skedaddle as quickly as possible. The question remains: Will the bankruptcy court allow this, and will things go as planned for these corporate insiders? Or will the company be rescued somehow before that happens? "As a board member, Sue Gove voted to appoint Mark Tritton CEO and voted for his ridiculous compensation package and voted for share buybacks at $20-$30 per share, creating the situation Bed Bath & Beyond currently is in," wrote someone in response to the news. "Share buybacks at those prices is the equivalent of throwing money out the window," wrote another about Gove's actions, which appear to have been done in bad faith at the expense of shareholders. "They might be an unfriendly board but they can't block a bid by the stalking horse," wrote another about a possible surprise action in all this – you can learn more about what a stalking horse bid is at this link. "If the company goes bankrupt, the shorts never have to close," said someone else about the goal of Wall Street's short selling operations against the companies it targets for elimination. More related news about Wall Street corruption can be found at Corruption.news. Sources for this article include: CNBC.com RetailDive.com NaturalNews.com Investopedia.com
Copy