Bed Bath & Beyond Is Publicly Traded, Has Dozens of Owners Including Ryan Cohen
As a publicly traded company, Bed Bath & Beyond has dozens of owners including GameStop chairman, Ryan Cohen. Let's see who owns part of the company.
March 8 2022, Published 3:03 p.m. ET
Bed Bath & Beyond is a publicly traded company and has been since 1992. Once a company goes public, it transitions from being a privately-owned company to one that's controlled by its majority shareholders. Essentially, what this means is that Bed Bath & Beyond is owned by multiple parties. Who are Bed Bath & Beyond’s top owners?
These are the top 10 owners of Bed Bath & Beyond based on their stock ownership.
After Bed Bath & Beyond went public some decades ago, it slowly began selling off the millions of shares of stock it had available. Not only did this give dozens of investment firms and individuals an inlet to becoming a part-owner of the company, but it also gave them the opportunity to capitalize off its gains.
Currently, a number of firms hold a majority stake in Bed Bath & Beyond, which gives them a voice in how the company operates. As of December 2021, the date for which the most recent data is available, CNN Business identified the following firms as the top 10 owners of Bed Bath & Beyond:
| Stockholder | Shares owned | Stake |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock Fund Advisors | 15,227,907 | 15.81% |
| Fidelity Management & Research Company | 13,451,021 | 13.96% |
| The Vanguard Group, Inc. | 10,526,689 | 10.93% |
| Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC | 5,732,220 | 5.95% |
| SSgA Funds Management, Inc. | 3,716,587 | 3.86% |
| Dimensional Fund Advisors LP | 3,276,804 | 3.40% |
| Brown Advisory LLC | 2,830,673 | 2.94% |
| Ardevora Asset Management LLP | 2,399,000 | 2.49% |
| Pacific Investment Management Company | 2,033,620 | 2.11% |
| Frontier Capital Management Company LLC | 1,989,398 | 2.07% |
Activist investor Ryan Cohen is now a majority shareholder of Bed Bath & Beyond.
Investment firm RC Ventures LLC, founded by Ryan Cohen, recently purchased $120 million in Bed Bath & Beyond stock. He now holds a 9.8 percent stake in the home furnishings company. This places Cohen’s investment firm on the list of the top 10 owners of Bed Bath & Beyond.
As Bed Bath & Beyond’s newest investor, Cohen is looking to bring dramatic change to the houseware retailer. In March 2022, the Chewy co-founder wrote a letter to the company’s board members that included several suggestions he believes will help the retailer excel, potentially raising its stock value.
In the letter, Cohen wrote, “We believe Bed Bath needs to narrow its focus to fortify operations and maintain the right inventory mix to meet demand, while simultaneously exploring strategic alternatives that include separating buybuy Baby, Inc. and a full sale of the company.”
Before concluding his letter, Cohen was sure to point out that CEO Mark Tritton’s salary was much higher than that of CEOs running larger retailers like Macy’s and Dollar Tree, reports Reuters.
Bed Bath & Beyond stock skyrocketed after Ryan Cohen announced his equity in the company.
Cohen, who stepped down from his CEO position at Chewy in 2018 and became the chairman of GameStop in January 2021, has already helped Bed Bath & Beyond stock rise. After announcing his 10 percent ownership of the retail giant, BBBY stock jumped 34 percent, reports CNBC.
Does Bed Bath & Beyond’s CEO Mark Trittion own any stock in the company?
Tritton, the CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond, is a shareholder, although he isn’t on the top 10 list of company owners. According to Wallmine, Tritton owns “over 15,000 units of Bed Bath & Beyond stock” and has sold off shares worth $1,575,000 over the last 13 years.
What other companies does Bed Bath & Beyond own?
Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY) owns several companies including Buy Buy Baby, Cost Plus World Market, Christmas Tree Shops, Of a Kind, and One Kings Lane. In June 2021, the retailer announced three new brands it would release under its Owned Brands that would only be sold in Bed Bath & Beyond stores. The brands include Our Table, Wild Sage, and Squared Away.