Gutstavo Arnal, the 52-year-old CFO of a struggling major chain, died Friday in New York.
The chief financial officer of Bedbath & Beyond died after falling from the Tribeca skyscraper in New York City, known as the “Jenga” tower, police said Sunday.
Gustavo Arnal, 52, joined Bed Bath & Beyond in 2020. He previously served as his CFO at London cosmetics brand Avon, and at Procter & Gamble, where he worked for 20 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
At 12:30 pm (4:30 pm GMT) on Friday, police responded to a 911 call and found a 52-year-old man injured in a fall near the building. Police identified the man as Gustavo Arnal.
A police statement did not provide details about the circumstances leading to Arnal’s death and said the New York City coroner’s office would determine the cause of death.Bedbath & Beyond confirmed his death in a press statement on Sunday. However, details were not disclosed.
The big chains, once considered so-called “category killers” of home and bath products, are performing worse after trying to expand sales of their own and private label products.
Last week, Bed Bath & Beyond announced it would turn its loss-making business around by closing 150 stores, reducing headcount and overhauling its merchandising strategy.
The company expects a better-than-expected 26% drop in same-store sales in the second quarter, and said it will keep the Bye Bye Baby business it has been selling.
Arnal sold 55,013 shares of Bed Bath & Beyond in multiple transactions on August 16-17, Reuters calculations showed, based on SEC filings. Sales reached about $1.4 million and Arnal still had about 255,400 shares left.
On August 23, the company, Arnall, and major shareholder Ryan Cohen were accused of artificially inflating the company’s share price in a “pump and dump” scheme, which led to Arnall selling shares at a higher price after the scheme. It was sued, alleging that it had been sold.
The class action lawsuit, which names Arnal as one of the defendants, was filed by a group of shareholders who claim they lost about $1.2 billion.
In a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Arnal “agrees to regulate all insider selling by BBBY officers and directors so that the market is not flooded with large amounts of BBBY stock at any given time.” I did,” he claims.
The lawsuit also alleges that he made statements that were materially misleading to investors.
The company said it was “in the early stages of evaluating the complaint, but based on our current knowledge, we believe there is no merit to the claim.”
Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock has been very volatile in recent months and is considered a so-called “meme” stock. Like last year when unpopular companies suddenly became favorites, they’re trading more on social media sentiment than on economic fundamentals. of smaller investors.
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