Overstock.com Bids $21.5M For NJ-Based Bed Bath & Beyond's Assets, IP

UNION, NJ — New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond is fielding a more than $21 million dollar buyout offer, but there is a catch. The deal would only be for certain assets — the chain’s intellectual property, not its physical stores.

Court papers show that Overstock.com filed the bid Tuesday, as business news outlets including CNBC and Barron’s reported. The $21.5 million bid includes the Bed Bath & Beyond IP, mobile platform, business data, and marketing material according to Barron’s. Overstock is an online retailer that primarily sells furniture and home decorations.

Bed Bath & Beyond, which is headquartered in Union, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 23, listing its estimated assets and liabilities at a value up to $10 billion. Discounted sales have been going on since late April at 360 Bed Bath and Beyond stores around the country, including the 13 stores remaining in New Jersey.

Competing bids are due by Friday with an auction expected to take place June 21, reports said. The initial minimum bid on the assets of a bankrupt company is called a “stalking horse bid,” the term coming from an old hunting tactic.

Related articles:

• Bed Bath & Beyond Files For Bankruptcy, NJ Closing Sales Start (April 2023)
  
• Harmon Closes All NJ Stores As Bed Bath & Beyond Downsizes (Jan. 2023)

Buy Buy Baby, which is owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, was particularly attractive to bidders according to CNBC. Reports said it was not included in the Overstock.com bid, and there are other companies interested in securing at least part of the brand.

Babylist, an online registry site, has bid on Buy Buy Baby’s digital assets according to the Wall Street Journal. The parent company of Janie and Jack, which is a children’s clothing retailer, is also in talks to scoop up Buy Buy Baby according to WSJ reporting.

There are eight Buy Buy Baby (styled buybuy BABY) stores in the Garden State, and a total of 120 in the United States at the time the parent company filed for bankruptcy.

The company employed 14,000 workers across the nation as of April 23, according to the court filing —a drastic drop from 32,000 employees as of February 2022. Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy after closing its remaining Harmon Face Values stores as well.

So far this year, party supplies chain Party City and David's Bridal are among the other retailers that have filed for Chapter 11.