Bed Bath & Beyond will live on, online at least, after Overstock.com acquired the bankrupt retail chain's intellectual property assets for $21.5 million. The online retailer Overstock.com is dumping its name online and will become Bed Bath & Beyond, which declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Overstock.com's CEO Jonathan Johnson told the AP on Thursday that the company is considering changing its corporate name but won't make any decisions until after it digests the assets. "Overstock" apparently confuses some consumers anyway. Johnson described the new entity as "Bed Bath and a bigger beyond."
The switch to a more recognizable brand was cheered on Wall Street. Shares of Overstock.com Inc., based in Midvale, Utah, rose nearly 20% during afternoon trading Thursday. The deal doesn't include Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the last of which are expected to be shuttered Friday, or the Buybuy Baby chain. The name change will roll out in Canada next month, and in August, a relaunch of the company's website and mobile app as Bed Bath & Beyond will appear in the US. Those visiting overstock.com will be redirected to bedbathandbeyond.com.
The name Overstock still confuses some customers and suppliers who thought it was a liquidator, per the AP. That's how it got its start in 1999. The company transformed in 2004 into a general merchandise retailer, selling a wide variety of items. In 2021, Overstock finetuned its strategy to focus on furniture and home decor, getting rid of items like clothing. When Bed Bath & Beyond's financial woes deepened last year, Overstock.com tried to court the retailer's suppliers but met with skepticism. After its bid for Bed Bath and Beyond became public last week, Overstock was able to add 100,000 bed and bath items to its site, Johnson said. He expects that pace will pick up. The CEO estimated that Overstock.com has about 5 million customers; Bed Bath & Beyond's online customers number about 10 million.
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