Bed Bath & Beyond’s chief customer and technology officer resigns

Dive Brief:

Shaking up its C-suite even further, Bed Bath & Beyond on Tuesday announced Chief Customer and Technology Officer Rafeh Masood is resigning from the company, effective Dec. 2.
The retailer said in an SEC filing that Masood’s resignation was “not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices or financial statements.”
Masood was named chief digital officer in May 2020.

Dive Insight:

Bed Bath & Beyond’s executive suite continues to experience changes.

In June Mark Tritton, who in 2019 arrived at the retailer from Target, stepped down from his role as CEO, being replaced by Sue Gove in the interim. That same week Bed Bath & Beyond’s chief merchandising officer Joe Hartsig and chief accounting officer John Barresi exited the company as well. The retailer earlier this year also announced it was eliminating its chief operating officer and chief stores officer roles. The company’s former chief financial officer Gustavo Arnal died by suicide earlier this year.

After serving in the role in the interim since June, Sue Gove last week was appointed permanent CEO. But heading into the holiday season, Bed Bath & Beyond is still seeking a permanent CFO, a position held by Laura Crossen in the interim.

The company on Friday said it is reviewing a data breach after a third party accessed data. Bed Bath & Beyond at the time said it did not believe the data accessed contained sensitive or personal information.

The retailer is losing share and facing sales declines following a brief bump during the early months of the pandemic. In its most recent quarter, Bed Bath & Beyond reported net sales declined 28% year over year, while comparable sales fell 26%. The company’s operating loss reached $346.2 million and net loss was $366.2 million.

More recently, the company has taken a number of steps to help shore up its finances and buy itself some time to pay some of its debts. Last month, Bed Bath & Beyond announced a bond exchange offer, which entails buying back three groups of senior unsecured notes and offering new notes. The move prompted S&P Global Ratings to downgrade the company’s corporate credit rating to CC from CCC, labeling the exchange as “distressed.” And late last week, Bed Bath & Beyond announced plans to sell additional shares of its common stock with a maximum aggregate offering amount of up to $150 million. This followed the company earlier this year selling 12 million additional shares.

The retailer is executing on a turnaround likely to determine its fate. Bed Bath & Beyond in August outlined a plan that included closing more than 150 stores, laying off about 20% of its corporate and supply chain staff and discontinuing three of its private labels as it makes a shift back to more national brands.