The man who jumped to his death from the 18th floor of the famous ‘Jenga’ tower in lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood Friday has been identified as a Bed Bath & Beyond executive.
Gustavo Arnal, 52, was the Chief Financial Officer of Bed Bath & Beyond, a company that has been going through struggles of late due to high inflation and a sagging economy. The company announced plans to close 150 stores, of its roughly 900, and lay off 20 percent of staff just two days before Arnal’s death.
He reportedly sold over 42,000 shares in the company, oft-identified as a ‘meme stock’, for $ 1 million just over two weeks ago, according to MarketBeat.com. At the time, he still owned 267,896 shares in the company, valued at just under $6.5million.
Arnal moved to Bed Bath & Beyond in 2020 – when the company was already struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic – from London-based cosmetics giant Avon, where he was also CFO, and had spent 20 years at Proctor & Gamble.
When Arnal was brought to Bed Bath & Beyond in April 2020 a company spokesman said in a statement they were ‘bringing in world-class talent to offer new perspectives, expertise, and experience as we rebuild our business.’
‘Gustavo exemplifies this and his experience delivering business transformation at other leading companies, his deep knowledge of the retail and consumer goods space, as well as his energy and drive will help accelerate our transformation plans.’
Calls regarding the jump at 56 Leonard Street near Church Street came in at around 12:30 pm Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the NYPD. Arnal was identified as the jumper at the 57-story building – where apartments go for up to $ 50 million – on Friday afternoon, according to the New York Post.
Bed Bath & Beyond – once considered a so-called ‘category killer’ in home and bath goods – has seen its fortunes falter, with CEO Mark Tritton fired in June after sales plunged 25 percent in the first quarter. The company hired Sue Gove, an independent board director, to replace him on an interim basis.
On Wednesday, Gove said the retailer was ‘continuing to see significant positive momentum’ and intended to build its ‘deep heritage as a retailer.’ ‘While there is much work ahead, our road map is clear and we’re confident that the significant changes we’ve announced today will have a positive impact on our performance’ she said on a conference call.
The retailer also announced a plan to raise money by issuing new shares and said it had secured $500 million in new financing — but investors took a dim view of the strategic plan, and shares fell as much as 25 percent in morning trading.
Traders on the Reddit forum WallStreetBets, who have cheered the stock in recent weeks, reacted with a mixture of stoicism and despair. ‘I just wanted make money without any effort. why I have to suffer like this? why?’ wrote one user on the forum.
In Wednesday’s update, Bed Bath & Beyond also forecast a bigger-than-expected 26 percent slump in same-store sales for the second quarter and said it would retain its buybuy Baby business, which it had put up for sale.
The efforts to sell buybuy Baby had been encouraged by GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen, the company’s biggest investor until this month when he sold out of his 9.8 percent stake, sending shares plummeting. (Daily Mail)
