Dive Brief:
- Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond parent company Beyond, Inc., has left the company effective immediately, the retailer announced Monday. Johnson had served as Overstock’s CEO since 2019 and led the acquisition of Bed Bath & Beyond’s brand assets out of bankruptcy.
- The move follows a “mutual agreement” between the board of directors and Johnson to “transition the company to new leadership.” David Nielsen, the company’s president, will expand his responsibilities and serve as interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent leader.
- Johnson’s abrupt departure follows mixed performance in the third quarter. The company also said CFO Adrianne Lee will take on expanded responsibilities by overseeing legal and human resources functions.
Dive Insight:
Overstock and Bed Bath & Beyond have experienced a multitude of changes this year.
In April, Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after over 50 years in business. The retailer closed all its physical stores and moved to liquidate its business piece by piece. In June, e-retailer Overstock acquired Bed Bath & Beyond’s brand and select elements of intellectual property, including a large customer data file, for $21.5 million.
The company relaunched Bed Bath & Beyond as an online-only retailer in the U.S. and Canada weeks later. It also plans to relaunch Overstock as a clearance-focused retailer by the end of 2024.
In October, the company said it planned to change its corporate name to Beyond and move its stock listing from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange. The name change and stock market switch are effective Monday.
Johnson had been at the helm of it all. In recent months, analysts characterized the changes as having the potential to reinvigorate sales and consumer interest in two established retail brands that had struggled for various reasons in recent years.
“I am incredibly proud of all that we have achieved to transform the company since becoming CEO – evolving to a leading online home retailer with an iconic name and a large, growing consumer base,” Johnson said. “As the company turns the page to become Beyond, now is the right time for me to also turn the page to the next chapter in my career.”
Nielsen, who is taking over in the interim, has served as Beyond’s president since 2019. In that capacity, he leads marketing, customer, digital, technology and operations functions. Nielsen initially joined the company in 2009 as senior vice president and merchandise manager, according to his LinkedIn profile. He left in 2015 to serve as CEO of another e-commerce company before returning to Overstock in 2018.
Before joining the company now known as Beyond, Lee was CFO of Hertz’s North American rental car unit and previously led financial planning and analysis for Best Buy’s e-commerce business.
