Arnal died on Friday. In accordance with the New York Metropolis Police Division, police discovered the 52-year-old unconscious with accidents displaying he fell from the 57-story Jenga residential tower in Manhattan. The medical expert’s workplace dominated the 52-year-old Arnal’s loss of life a suicide, and police mentioned an investigation was underway.
Arnal was going through a lawsuit accusing him of collaborating in a scheme to inflate the corporate’s inventory value to promote shares for an enormous revenue.
The information of Arnal’s loss of life got here simply days after Mattress Bathtub & Past mentioned that it could shut shops and lay off employees in a bid to show round its beleaguered enterprise.
The chain, primarily based in Union, New Jersey, is trying to shut about 150 of its namesake shops and slash its workforce by 20%.
Preliminary figures for the quarter ended Aug. 27 present that Mattress Bathtub & Past’s gross sales had been $1.45 billion, a drop of 26% from the identical interval final 12 months. It burned by way of $325 million in money through the quarter.
The retailer ousted its earlier CEO, former Goal govt Mark Tritton, in June. Final month, it introduced that the chief working officer and chief shops officer had left. The corporate is being led by an interim CEO, board member and retail marketing consultant Sue Gove, whereas a search agency seems to be for a everlasting chief.
Arnal joined the corporate in Could 2020 after holding senior govt jobs at Avon, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Procter & Gamble.
The corporate mentioned in a submitting in August that Arnal offered about 55,000 shares for $1.4 million in six separate transactions that also left him with greater than 255,000 shares.
On Aug. 23, an investor from suburban Washington filed a lawsuit towards Arnal, activist investor Ryan Cohen, Mattress Bathtub & Past and its bankers. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action standing, accuses Arnal and Cohen of conspiring since March in a “pump and dump” scheme to spice up the value of Mattress Bathtub & Past shares. It accused Cohen of creating a false submitting and manipulating the timing of revealing the sale of most of his inventory.
Mattress Bathtub & Past mentioned it’s within the early levels of evaluating the grievance, “however primarily based on present information the corporate believes the claims are with out advantage.”
Shares of the corporate fell 15% in morning buying and selling, to $7.32.
The nationwide suicide and disaster lifeline is offered by calling or texting 988. There may be additionally a web based chat at 988lifeline.org.
Enterprise Author David Koenig contributed to this report.
