Bed Bath & Beyond (online retailer)
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | E-commerce, Retail |
| Predecessor | Overstock.com, Inc.; Beyond, Inc. |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Patrick M. Byrne, Jason Lindsey |
| Headquarters | Midvale , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Dave Nielsen (interim CEO as of 2023) |
| Products | Home furnishings, decor, bedding products; online retail |
| Website | www |
Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc.—previously known as Overstock.com, Inc. and Beyond, Inc.—is a U.S.-based e-commerce company established in 1999 by Patrick M. Byrne and Jason Lindsey. For more than two decades, it operated under the Overstock.com name, focusing on discounted inventory including home furnishings, decor, and bedding products. An attempted rebranding to O.co in 2011 did not gain traction.
In 2023, Overstock.com purchased the intellectual property rights of the former retail giant Bed Bath & Beyond. After renaming itself Beyond, Inc., the company rebranded its consumer-facing website as Bed Bath & Beyond. Subsequently, the Overstock.com brand was relaunched alongside Bed Bath & Beyond. In 2025, the firm acquired assets from Bed Bath & Beyond’s former subsidiary Buy Buy Baby. That August, it officially changed its legal name and ticker symbol to Bed Bath & Beyond.
Origins as Overstock.com
Initially founded as D2:Discounts Direct on May 5, 1997 by Robert Brazell, the company went bankrupt in 1999. It was then acquired by Patrick M. Byrne and Jason Lindsey, who rebranded it as Overstock.com. The business model centered on selling excess and returned goods from failed internet companies at prices below wholesale.
In 2001, Overstock launched its Worldstock division to showcase handcrafted items from global artisans, expanding to approximately 6,000 producers by 2006.
The company went public in May 2002 with an initial offering price of $13 per share; Amazon was an early investor but exited at that time.
Overstock introduced online auctions through Overstock.com Marketplace (later renamed O.co Marketplace) in 2004; this feature was discontinued in July 2011.
After initially relying heavily on word-of-mouth promotion, Overstock adopted a series of memorable television commercials featuring German actress Sabine Ehrenfeld and other spokespersons.
In July 2006, John J. Byrne resigned from the board after publicly opposing his son Patrick Byrne’s campaign against naked short-selling; he returned to the board in 2010. Early in 2007, directors John A. Fisher and Ray Groves stepped down due to disputes connected to a lawsuit involving the company’s prime broker.
Co-founder Jason Lindsey left his roles as president, COO, and director effective December 31, 2007. Following his departure, Overstock’s stock price dropped to a four-year low.
The company posted a $7.7 million profit in 2009 and exceeded $1 billion in revenue by 2010. However, a Google penalty for questionable search engine optimization tactics led to a two-month revenue decline of approximately 5% due to reduced search visibility.
Early in 2011, Overstock attempted to consolidate its international presence under the "O.co" brand but abandoned this strategy within months because of consumer confusion linked to the Colombian domain extension.
That same year, Overstock secured naming rights for the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, initially renaming it Overstock.com Coliseum and later O.co Coliseum before reverting to its original name in 2016.
By 2013, Jonathan Johnson, then president of Overstock, publicly supported increasing immigration policies to alleviate shortages in hiring software engineers despite offering competitive compensation.
In 2014, the company began developing software aimed at enabling online corporate stock issuance as an alternative to traditional stock exchanges such as NYSE or NASDAQ.
Founder Patrick Byrne took an indefinite medical leave in April 2016 due to complications from hepatitis C; Mitch Edwards, general counsel at the time, served as interim CEO until Byrne resumed his duties in July.
On August 22, 2019, Byrne resigned from both CEO and board positions following disclosures about his romantic involvement with Maria Butina, an unregistered Russian agent. Jonathan E. Johnson succeeded him as CEO.
Later that year, Overstock announced a digital dividend program issuing one share of Digital Voting Series A-1 Preferred Stock for every ten common shares held. These digital shares were initially tradable exclusively on PRO Securities’ alternative trading platform licensed through tZero, a blockchain subsidiary of Overstock.
As Beyond, Inc.
In June 2023, the firm acquired the intellectual property assets of Bed Bath & Beyond for $21.5 million. On June 29, it was revealed that Overstock.com would adopt the Bed Bath & Beyond name; this transition occurred on August 1, shortly after the original retailer shuttered its final outlets.
On October 24, 2023, the company declared a corporate rebranding to Beyond, Inc., effective November 6, 2023, and changed its stock exchange listing to the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'BYON'. CEO Jonathan Johnson stepped down that same day, with Dave Nielsen stepping in as interim CEO.
On March 28, 2024, Beyond revived the Overstock.com brand with a focus on affluent customers and higher-value transactions, positioning it above Bed Bath & Beyond. Additionally, plans were announced to relaunch the Zulily brand during the second quarter of 2024.
In October 2024, Beyond revealed a $40 million stake in The Container Store, coupled with a new line of Bed Bath & Beyond-branded home products to be retailed through Container Store outlets. However, by November 20, Beyond raised concerns regarding The Container Store’s ability to meet financing conditions stipulated in their agreement and set a deadline of January 31, 2025, for satisfactory financing arrangements.
In 2025, Beyond purchased Kirkland's for $10 million and outlined intentions to convert those stores into Bed Bath & Beyond Home locations. The inaugural converted store opened in Nashville, Tennessee, in August.
Business model and management
Overstock.com acquires some products either directly or through partnerships with manufacturers, including handmade items crafted by artisans from developing countries. The company also oversees inventory supply management for other retailers.
Bitcoin
On January 9, 2014, Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept bitcoin as payment. Within just 22 hours, it processed over 800 bitcoin transactions totaling $126,000—reflecting a 4.33% increase over its typical daily revenue of $3 million. Nonetheless, by March 2014, bitcoin sales had dropped to less than 1% of daily revenue. CEO Patrick Byrne later confirmed that bitcoin transactions accounted for under 0.1% of total revenue.
By mid-2014, monthly bitcoin sales averaged around $300,000 and were projected to contribute approximately four cents per share to earnings for that year. Despite investing at least $175 million in bitcoin and blockchain-related ventures, Overstock.com never reported profits from these investments.
Naked short selling controversy
The company attracted attention due to CEO Patrick Byrne’s ongoing campaign against alleged naked short selling targeting Overstock.com shares. Since 2005, Byrne has asserted that Overstock was subjected to this practice—selling shares short without borrowing or locating them first—which bypasses standard safeguards and has been used to depress stock prices and potentially cause corporate failures. Overstock’s frequent presence on the SEC’s Regulation SHO Threshold Security list—indicating significant "fails to deliver" and trading volumes surpassing shares outstanding—supports Byrne’s claims. However, some financial media critics argue Byrne uses these allegations to deflect from Overstock’s declining stock price and lack of profitability. Certain analysts dismiss the issue as overstated, while SEC officials recognize abusive naked short selling as fraudulent activity requiring prevention.
In 2005, Overstock filed a lawsuit against hedge fund Rocker Partners alleging libel and unfair business practices related to collusion with research firm Gradient Analytics aimed at short-selling Overstock while issuing negative reports; naked short selling was not specifically claimed in this case. Byrne described a conspiracy involving hedge funds, journalists, regulators, and others intent on undermining Overstock’s stock value. Gradient Analytics countersued for defamation. Rocker Partners (later Copper River Management) responded with counterclaims accusing Overstock of overstating earnings and misrepresenting ventures and alleging Byrne used lawsuits to silence critics. In 2008, Overstock and Gradient settled after Gradient withdrew accusations concerning accounting methods and compliance with GAAP and NASD standards.
Copper River settled with Overstock for $5 million in December 2009; although denying wrongdoing, they cited litigation expenses as motivation for settlement. Byrne hailed this outcome as a victory.
In 2007, Overstock initiated a $3.5 billion lawsuit against Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and other Wall Street firms alleging a widespread illegal stock market manipulation scheme involving naked short selling that suppressed Overstock’s share price—sometimes exceeding total shares outstanding. Legal experts considered the lawsuit bold but unlikely to succeed. Two board members resigned due to disagreements about pursuing the suit. By December 2010, most defendants settled for $4.4 million; Overstock then amended its complaint to include RICO claims against Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch based on new evidence uncovered during discovery.
The RICO claims were dismissed both at trial and upon appeal. Goldman Sachs settled a refiled suit subsequently, while Merrill Lynch reached a $20 million settlement in 2016.
See also
External links
- Overstock.com
- "Overstock.com Launches in Second Life", CNN ireport.com, 2008-05-02.
- Companies based in Salt Lake County, Utah
- Midvale, Utah
- Retail companies founded in 1997
- American companies founded in 1997
- Internet businesses established in 1997
- Online retailers in the United States
- 1997 establishments in Utah
- Companies formerly traded on Nasdaq
- Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- 2002 initial public offerings
- American companies established in 1997