Bed, Bath & Beyond Under Fire For Manipulating Temperature To Boost Bottom Line

Bed Bath & Beyond is making changes to its operations to help make up for a huge drop in sales. Bank of America analysts who visited the stores issued a report about those changes. Including a claim that the stores are turning down their air conditioning to help make up for lost revenue.

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Other cost saving measures mentioned in the report were cutting hours for employees and reducing store operating hours. Bed Bath & Beyond has also canceled remodeling projects and replaced rewards programs. This on top of store closures, which the analysts expect more of.

“From our store visits, we believe that Bed Bath & Beyond is trying to quickly trim expenses to align costs with [sales] declines,” the Bank of America report read.

The board determined that it was time for a change in leadership

Bed Bath & Beyond has denied claims about the air conditioning. The company released a statement to the NY Post about the claims, “We’ve been contacted about this report, and to be clear, no Bed Bath & Beyond stores were directed to adjust their air conditioning and there have been no corporate policy changes in regard to utilities usage.”

The controversy and slumping sales led the home goods company to replace CEO Mark Tritton on Wednesday.

Director Harriet Edelmen released a statement about the change, “After thorough consideration, the board determined that it was time for a change in leadership. We are committed to addressing the urgent issues that have been impacting sales, profitability and cash flow.”

Tritton’s departure was just one of several other changes to the leadership

Tritton’s departure was just one of several other changes to the leadership announced by Bed Bath & Beyond. The company also announced that board member Sue Grove would be serving as the company’s interim CEO.

Bed Bath & Beyond’s first-quarter sales were down 25% from a year ago. The company said its losses increased by 600% to $358 million.

Bed Bath & Beyond has faced pressure recently from activist investors. Billionaire Chewy.com founder Ryan Cohen is among the investors. Cohen has urged the company to sell and to add more board members. While the company has yet to sell, it did add three new directors to the board.

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