Bed Bath & Beyond names interim finance chief

Bed Bath & Beyond, the beleaguered retailer, named Laura Crossen as interim chief financial officer Tuesday, four days after the death of its former finance chief, Gustavo Arnal.

Arnal, 52, died Friday after a fall from a skyscraper that the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office ruled a suicide. He was found near his residence and “appeared to suffer from injuries indicative from a fall from an elevated position,” the New York Police Department said in a statement.

Arnal, who had been the company’s chief financial officer since May 2020, was hired as part of an executive shake-up led by the CEO at the time, Mark Tritton, who left in June. Arnal was previously chief financial officer at Avon and held senior positions at Walgreens Boots Alliance and at Procter & Gamble, where he spent more than 20 years.

Crossen, the retailer’s chief accounting officer, has worked at Bed Bath & Beyond for more than 20 years and will also retain her current title. She most recently reported to Arnal.

Crossen will be responsible for helping steer the home-goods retailer through its latest turnaround plan, which included securing $500 million in emergency funding last week. The company also announced plans to issue equity to take advantage of a jump in its share price.

Bed Bath & Beyond warned investors last week that it expected to post another quarter of negative cash flow and forecast that sales would fall around 20% this year. To help cut costs, company executives said they planned to close about 150 stores and lay off 20% of its corporate office and supply-chain operations. Retail associates jobs will also be affected by the store closures. The retailer is also slashing its planned capital expenditure to $250 million, from $400 million.

The chain is still searching for a permanent CEO to replace Tritton, and Aug. 31 it said it was in its “earliest phase of the search process.”

Shares of the Bed Bath & Beyond were down nearly 14% in premarket trading.