Under pressure, veteran CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond withdraws

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Steven Temares, President and CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond since 2003, resigned on Monday and resigned from his position on the Board of Directors of Bed Bath & Beyond. Temares will be replaced temporarily by Mary Winston, former director of finances of Family Dollar. She will currently be one of the few women CEOs of Fortune 500.

The board of directors of the company announced the creation of a research committee to find a permanent general manager. He will try to find a CEO with "experience of transformation and innovation" in retail.

The resignation of Temares is "a necessary first step to revitalize the fate of the beleaguered retailer," said Neil Saunders, chief executive of GlobalData Retail, in a note to customers on Monday. Bed Bath & Beyond needs to hire a leader who can "put together a plan to reshape the business to the modern realities of the retail business".

Bed Bath & Beyond has struggled to compete with traditional retailers such as Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT), as well as online retailers Amazon (AMZN) and Wayfair (W) and discounters like TJ Maxx and his HomeGoods arm. Walmart, Target and Amazon have launched private brands of cheaper private brands, while Wayfair has invested heavily in advertising for its customers to become familiar with its brand.
Bath & Beyond Bed & # 39; s (BBBY) the stock has fallen in recent years and same-store sales have also fallen two years in a row.

In March, three activist funds acquired a stake of about 5% in Bed Bath & Beyond and attempted to replace the entire board and CEO of the company, Temares.

The group – Legion Partners, Macellum Advisors and Ancora Advisors – has blamed congested stores and a disconcerting pricing strategy for the prolonged Bed Bath & Beyond downturn. The group wants Bed Bath & Beyond to refine its product selection and strengthen its in-store experience to bring traffic back to its stores. The funds also pressured the company to improve its profit margins by selling more of its own labels.

Bed Bath & amp; Beyond has fallen behind its rivals and will replace its long-time CEO.

Since the beginning of the fight against activists, Bed Bath & Beyond has taken steps to show investors that it has a recovery plan.

Bed Bath & Beyond has appointed several new directors to its board, including a new lead director, and has reorganized its corporate governance structure. He also announced his intention to close about 40 sites this year and to test new ideas in "laboratory" stores offering more decorative and food products.

But these measures were not enough to calm the group of activists. Investors sued Bed Bath & Beyond last week for dismissing its board of directors candidates.

Patrick Gaston, independent chair of Bed Bath & Beyond's board of directors, said Monday that "the board of directors determined that the time was right to identify the next generation of leaders."

Saunders, the GlobalData analyst, warned that Bed Bath & Beyond would still have "a lot of painful quarters". He added that the company should consider closing underperforming stores and investing online and in more profitable stores.

Although these investments "cause disruptions" and put pressure on the retailer's profits, they constitute the "price of long-term survival," he said.

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