Bed Bath & Beyond closing 120 stores, laying off 20% of corporate after securing $500m in financing

U.S. retailer Bed Bath & Beyond said it was laying off a large percentage of its corporate workforce and shuttering over 100 of its stores after it secured half a billion dollars in financing to try and stay afloat amid major financial difficulties. 

The company said in a news release on Wednesday that it had "secured financing commitments for more than $500 million of new financing" and was further planning an at-the-market offering program "for up to 12 million shares of common stock."

Yet the major new line of credit did not stop the company from announcing significant downsizing of both its workforce and its physical assets.

The retailer's "cost optimization plans" include "a reduction in force, including approximately 20% across corporate and supply chain," the company said in the release. 

Furthermore, the corporation said it as moving forward with "the closure of approximately 150 lower-producing Bed Bath & Beyond banner stores."

"The Company continues to evaluate its portfolio and leases, in addition to staffing, to ensure alignment with customer demand and go-forward strategy," the news release declared. 

Bed Bath & Beyond has been struggling in recent months to keep its doors open as a shifting U.S. retail landscape, two years of pandemic chaos and sky-high inflation and supply chain crises have wreaked havoc on its business. 

Company stocks had rallied at the start of 2020 after years of decline, yet they have been on a downward decline since January of 2021, standing at less than $10 per share on Wednesday.