Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) tumbled nearly 20% on Tuesday driven by the news that the home improvement retailer's Chief Financial Officer Gustavo Arnal jumped to his death from high-rise apartment balcony in Manhattan. Bed Bath & Beyond has named its Chief Accounting Officer Laura Crossen as interim chief financial officer following the death of Arnal.
Arnal died on Friday, September 2. According to the New York City Police Department, calls regarding the jump came in around 12.30 pm on Friday and the police found the 52-year-old unconscious with injuries showing he fell from the 57-story Jenga residential tower in Manhattan. The medical examiner's office ruled the 52-year-old Arnal's death a suicide, and police said an investigation was underway.
The incident occurred just two days after the company announced plans to shut 150 of its roughly 900 stores and lay off 20 percent of its staff.
Arnal reportedly sold more than 42,000 shares in the company, which was quite often identified as a 'meme stock', for $1 million, a little over two weeks ago, MarketBeat.com reported. At the time, Arnal owned 267,896 shares in the company with a value of a little under $6.5 million.
Arnal joined the company in May 2020 after serving as CFO for Avon in London for a little over a year and working in a similar role at Procter & Gamble for 20 years.
Arnal was also facing a lawsuit accusing him of taking part in a scheme to inflate the company's stock price to sell shares for a huge profit.
Meanwhile, Crossen's base salary was raised by $200,000 and the compensation committee increased her target annual bonus opportunity to 70% of her modified base salary. The filing said the adjustments will only be effective for the period she serves as interim CFO.
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