2 Struggling Businesses Announce Major Layoffs

Bed Bath & Beyond is closing 150 stores, while Snap is discontinuing several apps
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 31, 2022 12:27 PM CDT
Investors Respond Differently to 2 Companies' Grim News
A shopper exits a Bed Bath & Beyond in Schaumburg, Ill   (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Two struggling companies announced major job cuts and other restructuring moves Wednesday—and their stock prices moved in opposite directions.

  • Bed Bath & Beyond. The retailer, known for its 20% off coupons, said it would cut its corporate and supply chain workforce by 20%, and its stock plunged 20% in trading Wednesday, CNBC reports. The company—which has around 900 stores, including 135 Buybuy Baby stores—said it would close 150 of its "lower producing" namesake outlets, starting with 50 or 60 in the next few months. Bed Bath & Beyond execs said the company is also reversing its strategy of focusing on private-label brands instead of national brands. After Wednesday's drop, the company's share price is now down 65% from a year ago.

  • Snap. Snap, the maker of Snapchat, also announced a 20% cut in its workforce, but investors responded a lot more positively. The company's share price rose around 9% in trading Wednesday morning after it announced the layoffs and a plan to discontinue at least six products, the New York Times reports. The company, facing low growth numbers and worried about a potential recession's effect on advertising spending, said it was ditching apps including Zenly and Voisey, which had been designed to compete with Instagram and TikTok. Snap also announced that it was hiring a chief operating officer for the first time since 2015. (Bed Bath & Beyond, meanwhile, said it was eliminating that position.)

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