Bed Bath and Beyond CFO falls to death, company announces closures and layoffs | Hacker News Reader

Bed Bath and Beyond CFO falls to death, company announces closures and layoffs

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53 pointsaruanavekar15 comments

It's tragic, but I still can't help but think of The IT Crowd where Denholm Reynholm simply walks out a window when he discovers the police know about how he embezzled from the company.

I can't help but think of the Hudsucker Proxy.

  Myron Addison: My God, you're animals. How can you discuss his stock when the man has just leapt 45 floors?
  Board Member 6: 44.
  Board Member 7: Not counting the mezzanine.

There is a traditional rule of investing, that when the CFO quits unexpectedly, you should sell and not wait to find out what happens next.

I'm not sure if it applies here, or whether he annoyed Putin somehow.

Corporate wonderland is a mental asylum. A huge reboot is required. And the way things are going, it won't happen until we see many more such cases.

more developments

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/04/business/cfo-bed-bath-beyond-...

Unfortunate one. Must have been good while it lasted, to the point that ending your life seemed better than dealing with the consequences.

That comment section.

Why not just retire?

"Arnal was named as a defendant in a class action lawsuit accusing him, Ryan Cohen and other large shareholders of engaging in a "pump and dump" scheme to artificially inflate the price of the company's stock."

If I had to guess, he was more afraid of the legal ramifications of being sued.

Still a tragic loss of life, but paints a little more accurate of a picture.

Sizeable companies juggle hundreds of lawsuits simultaneously. Mostly even the financial press doesn't highlight it because to a large company most lawsuits aren't "material" which means they don't have to be detailed in public SEC filings. They can be a big deal to an individual who, say, had their life ruined from a product defect, or lost their life savings, but they're mosquito bites relative to corporate finances.

The normal reaction from executives is irritation and propaganda against 'frivolous' lawsuits and plaintiff lawyers.

If someone is in mental distress who knows what would put them over the edge, but I don't think such a lawsuit constitutes any sort of explanation in itself.

He also must have (had) insurance right? Would guess it was personal stuff.

Is that the same Ryan Cohen from GME?

Yes, some background, he had about a 10% stake in BBBY and sold out of it during the recent bull-run, the announcement of the sale caused the stock to crater 60% or so.

He has, in a sense. Permanently.

More seriously, if he was emotionally deeply invested in BBBY, having to fire 1 in 5 workers and close 150 stores was probably devastating. I also understand he held a large amount of stock in BBBY which has lost a significant amount of value, and was named as a defendant in a class action suit (something about misleading statements about BBBY's finances, I'm not across the details).

Maybe he was facing the prospect of bankruptcy, or otherwise not being in a position to enjoy retirement?

Even at current prices he has millions of dollars in stock. People think in illogical ways, but I feel the reason must have been more than just financial.

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