The company confirmed his death on Sunday. The New York Police Department said the 52-year-old was found unresponsive in a Tribeca tower block in lower Manhattan and pronounced dead at the scene. They did not comment further. Arnal was joined as a retailer in 2020 by cosmetics brand Avon. He previously held executive roles at Walgreens Boots Alliance and Procter & Gamble. “The entire Bed Bath & Beyond Inc organization is deeply saddened by this shocking loss,” Harriet Edelman, the company’s independent chairman of the board, said in a statement. “I am proud to have been a colleague of his and he will be truly missed by all of us at Bed Bath & Beyond and everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.” The home goods retailer has been struggling for some time with poor sales and mounting debt. It ousted Mark Tritton, its chief executive, in June after a dismal earnings report that revealed a sharp jump in quarterly losses and a sharp decline in the amount of cash on the balance sheet. The company blamed weak consumer demand and said the late arrival of orders had led to a build-up of inventories. Activist investor Ryan Cohen had pushed for boardroom changes and a sale of Bed Bath & Beyond’s baby products business after becoming one of its largest shareholders this year. However, Cohen sold his entire stake in the business in mid-August, sending the stock plummeting. In the past 12 months, its shares have fallen by two-thirds. At the same time, Arnal sold 55,013 shares of the company, Reuters reported on Sunday based on SEC filings. The company unveiled a turnaround plan last week designed to shore up its balance sheet and boost growth, including $500 million in financing, 150 store closings, job cuts and a revamped lineup of brands. It also filed to sell up to 12 million shares, with the proceeds going in part to pay down debt. Interim chief executive Sue Gove said the plan represented a “straightforward, basic philosophy” that would drive development. “We are working quickly and diligently to strengthen our liquidity and secure our path for the future,” he said at the time. Bed Bath & Beyond also said comparable sales — a popular industry metric — were down 26 percent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier. It expects the overall figure for the year to be down about 20%, based on improvements in the second half. The company’s shares sank about 30 percent after the plan was announced on Wednesday. Bed Bath & Beyond’s financial woes were overshadowed for much of the summer by severe volatility in the company’s stock price in a return to the meme stock trading trend that began in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Demand from retailers helped push Bed Bath & Beyond shares to $23.08 in August, a move that reversed after Cohen’s departure. Shares closed at $8.63 on Friday. Arnal’s death was first reported by the New York Post.
