OberynApr 26, 2023
Qasim Rashid, Esq.

Bed Bath & Beyond has filed for bankruptcy shortly after spending $1B in stock buybacks & cash payments to shareholders. Employees of 20 years got 0 notice & $0 severance.

It wasn't inflation. It wasn't labor cost. It is 100% corporate greed.

Tax billionaires. Unionize workers. Protect our economy.

Apr 24, 2023 at 2:50pmWeb
Show threadRyk ✌🏻🖖🏽🇨🇦Apr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid In Canada too. :( I were hired by a wonderful local company that were providing electronic products for customers for 20+ years. Within a year, a corporate (seeming) 'buy and destroy' collective from Quebec, Canada bought the company - fraudulently super expanded it with investments from all over. Rush rush rush - uh, oh!
The 'quickly made Directors' got 6 figure ending bonuses and all of the floor employees got ZERO.
All the execs. left our province.
Never heard of conclusion. :(
Show threadStoney TakesApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid ban short selling and stock buybacks. Ban short selling yesterday. Why do we even have regulators? What benefit does short selling provide society at large? Unreal this keeps happening over and over.
Show threadwhetstoneApr 24, 2023

@Stoneycase @QasimRashid Short selling is healthy, though. It's good for some investors to have an incentive to bust hype cycles rather than everyone trying to feed into them, drive prices up, and cash out.

100% with you on buybacks, though. I don't see any societal or broad-market value in them.

Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Apr 24, 2023
@whetstone @Stoneycase @QasimRashid Buybacks are an important indicator: they announce that capital gains taxes are too low relative to income taxes, and that management has no ideas for profitable investments.
Show threadwhetstoneApr 24, 2023
@opendna That's actually a very good point. I wish that, as an indicator, it were acted upon by legislators and punished by investors.
Show threadHenryApr 25, 2023
@whetstone @opendna while I mostly agree, didn’t Dell do a huge share buyback a couple of years ago to restore control of the company? Dell seems to be doing just fine, though I can accept that might be an exception
Show threadwhetstoneApr 25, 2023
@proji @opendna I’m not sure how regulators could distinguish between buybacks to consolidate ownership/control management vs buybacks to pump up execs’ options *and* make them more liquid, but I agree that there’s a meaningful difference in the motivations.
Show threadHenryApr 25, 2023
@whetstone @opendna as I recall, Dell were quite open about their reasons for buying back. I grant you this would be the exception rather than the norm and as you say distinguishing between motivations would be crucial. I guess it could only be done retrospectively. So Dell would be given a pass where the actions of BB&B would be subject to further scrutiny ie did the board have prior knowledge of this outcome and was the buyback motivated by that?
Show threadwhetstoneApr 25, 2023
@proji @opendna tbh it might just be easiest to ban having options as part of executive compensation at all. pay people actual money based on performance, and remove the motivation for juicing the short term stock price.
Show threadHenryApr 25, 2023
@whetstone @opendna possibly, i think the main idea behind options is really as a “our success is your success” which works great when the company inspires dedication (Apple, Google, Microsoft spring to mind) but works less well with other companies where corporate greed take over.
Show threadwhetstoneApr 25, 2023
@proji @opendna I think options are fine as compensation for people who do not have the power to institute buybacks and other shortcut ways to juice the price. A Google engineer would be inspired to make better products by options; Google execs, on the other hand, have motivation to hack their way to quick boosts unrelated to what's actually good for customers or for the company long-term.
Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Apr 25, 2023

@proji @whetstone The board of BB&B knew the company was loosing money during most of the years it was buying back stock. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bed-bath-beyond-how-stock-buybacks-undermined-the-company-154202427.html If they still had the cash, they wouldn't be bankrupt.

Why they thought the stock price was so important, I don’t know.

Yahooist Teil der Yahoo Markenfamilie

Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Apr 25, 2023

@proji @whetstone Yes, Dell did announce a buyback program in 2021 and, while not objectionable, I think my indicators fit.

Tech stocks were getting hammered so they transitioned from tech stock to Blue Chip by announcing a reoccurring dividend and a plan to buy back shares (which would get their earnings-per-share to a more reasonable Blue Chip ratio). It was a conservative business play.

But it still said that they had nothing better to do with $5B in cash than bump the capital gains.

Show threadHenryApr 25, 2023
@opendna @whetstone thanks for filling in the blanks, I hadn’t had chance to read up on it so i was recalling from memory. Either way, in the case of Dell it wasn’t a bad thing but in other cases it could well be bad or at least be used as a means of lining pockets at the expense of everyone else
Show threadjergyApr 24, 2023

@Stoneycase @QasimRashid

Dr. #SusanneTrimbath wrote an excellent book titled Naked Short and Greedy that explains in detail the 3-pronged problem of:
-short selling
-stock lending
-failures to deliver

enabling wall street participants to get away with completely fraudulently and illegal behavior at the expense of the victim company

All of this is under the authority of the self-regulating organization known as the #DTC, the Depository Trust Company

Show threadAaronMApr 24, 2023
@Stoneycase @QasimRashid the theoretical value of short selling is as a way to correct overpriced stocks, and providing a little extra $$ for people who think it’s still going up. The problem is naked short selling which lets you, if you have enough cash, basically force down the price of a stock without actually getting any of the shares in the first place
Show threadCautionWIP 🎃+🇨🇦+🏳️‍🌈= Apr 25, 2023

@aaronm @Stoneycase @QasimRashid No. The problem is our global society continually allowing basic economic transactions between human beings to become a game that incumbent players automatically win while the “average” humans are used as game tokens and markers in their various power-struggles.

Or at least that’s what I heard the kids saying.

Show threadKeith Ammann @ GameStormApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid Can the filing be denied?
Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Apr 24, 2023
@KeithAmmann In theory...but it won't be.
Show threadDarwin WoodkaApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid the finance bros destroy entire industries for profit. Instead of building our economy, finance is used to tear it apart for billionaire profits. This game has to stop and finance has to return to its useful purpose and not this destruction.
Show threadex or current IDF unwelcomeApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid get strong redundancy laws
Show threadNicole ParsonsApr 24, 2023

@QasimRashid

And fire Tucker Carlson, as Fox News just announced 10 minutes ago.

Baby steps...

Now do Bartiromo, Hannity, and Ingraham.

Show threadStephenApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid similar type of squeeze happened to Sears/Kmart - nothing changed after that, so I doubt anything will change now. The rules of the game seem to be okay to some of the players.
Show threadRevJeberApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid
That's the kind of thing Mitt Romney was doing before he entered politics. Buy a failing business, suck all the money out of it then let it die.
Show threadShirley EugestApr 25, 2023
@jeber @QasimRashid
Mnuchin too.
Show threadBritish Tech GuruApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid There's a retail apocalypse going on right now. Lot of places are closing. Bed bath and beyond sold nothing that Target and Walmart didn't sell cheaper.
Show threadQasim Rashid, Esq.Apr 24, 2023
@britishtechguru while all are exploiting working people. Smh.
Show threadBritish Tech GuruApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid There's little difference between those subsisting on minimum wage that need housing support, food support and medical support and slaves whose housing is provided by their master, whose medical needs are provided by their master and whose food is provided by their master. Minimum wage jobs are designed to keep the worker poor by never giving enough hours, unable to plan their free time as the schedules are constantly changed. The system is designed to keep the slaves poor and enslaved with no escape except it's technically not called slavery even though it is to all intents and purposes.
Show threadShirley EugestApr 25, 2023
@britishtechguru @QasimRashid
Cheaper is part of the problem.
Target and Walmart are two stores that sell fairly crappy stuff for low prices. People who are under paid can only afford crappy stuff, made by slave labor elsewhere.
The crappy stuff soon gets tossed, broken and unusable, onto the heap with the broken people who made it and those who bought it.
Over-consumption of crappy stuff makes the rich richer, and the poor desperate.
Show threadBritish Tech GuruApr 25, 2023
@EugestShirley @QasimRashid Your target there should be the cancerous epidemic of dollar stores where minuscule quantities of things are sold for close to a dollar and where the packaging costs more than the product inside.Those are there to milk the poor who think they're getting away with something cheap. What they actually get is watered down and small quantities at proportionally higher prices.
Show threadShirley EugestApr 25, 2023
@britishtechguru @QasimRashid
My comment was responding to the stores you named. I would agree that going to a dollar store to buy things barely worth a dollar is seldom useful.
Cheaper is a goal that seldom serves its intended purpose.
Show threadBritish Tech GuruApr 25, 2023
@EugestShirley @QasimRashid People always look for the cheapest without realising that it is rarely the best option. The best example I can think of before I leap into my car to go to work (it's5:10am) is crossing America. The cheapest, slowest and most unpleasant would be the Greyhound. More comfortable and considerably less "romantic" than portrayed would be the train. The fastest and easiest though less comfortable would be to fly. In terms of cost I'm not 100% sure but the bus is likely cheapest then the train and the plane.
Show threadKevin Karhan Apr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid +9001%
Show threadjmjmApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid they busted out the business like mafiosos.
Show threadVoronApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid @Texan_Reverend There is a reason stock buy backs were illegal before 1982
Show threadBig Head TalesApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid
The demands of a few filthy rich Wall Street investors are ruining the country and destroying live. Looking at you Bed, Bath & Beyond, Amazon, Disney, Meta...
Show threadCSGApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid your opinion is dumb little stupid
Show threadSean CoccaApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid Another perfect example of greedflation.
Show threadenmodo ⚛️ 🧬 🇺🇦 🍉Apr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid and in bankruptcy they will manage to write off a bunch of debt, close a bunch of stores, fire more people. At which point a private equity company will swoop in and then run the company.
Show threadWade WainioApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid Tax corporate profits, not wage income. Instead of war, spend wisely on infrastructure, education, healthcare, justice.
Show threadNona #DarkGrannyApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid it's venture capitalists all the way down
Show threadUjima CultureApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid
Show threadAlan K. MartinezApr 24, 2023

@QasimRashid was wondering what might be going on... my local BBB looked a lot like the last days of Fry's Electronics... empty shelves or low variety of items, sections of the floor cleared out and few staff to be seen...

Didn't one of their execs have some kind of scandal recently too?

Show threadColes Street PotholeApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid More like Bloodbath and Beyond.
Show threadZelmo ZiggyApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid Actually, it was a shift in consumer buying patterns.
Show threadTap & Roll GamesApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid Qonservatives: "Nuh-uh, it was boycotts because they stopped carrying fascist pillows!"
Show threadjoeApr 24, 2023

@QasimRashid Since this is 100% legal and is quite an effective weapon in our current Class War ... when do we get to start returning shots of our own?

And I'm also curious *how* - because the only things I can think of doing involve violence-adjacent acts

Show threadDylanApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid also: stop talking about the stock price of a company as an indicator of anything meaningful.
Show threadRaptor Apr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid I don't disagree with your points but BBBY was dead for YEARS, the only reason they didn't shut down two years ago is them basically turning into a shell for yet another reddit-fueled pump-n-dump scheme to give golden parachutes out to the top and leave meme-stockers (deservedly)holding the bag yet again, I feel bad for the employees who stayed but there's no way they didn't know the stores were shutting down, the one in my area was planning on shutting it's doors well before that.
Show threadGorbaApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid make stock buy backs illegal again
Show threadA Tattered ScrapbookApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid I still have yet to see anything that disproves Marx’s insistence that workers must seize the means of production to end their exploitation. Don’t just tax billionaires, and millionaires. Take the companies and turn them into equitable co-ops.
Show threadDale WestApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid when you know what the 1% intends for you.
Show threadMisterStarsApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid Consarn it! Now I’ll have to track down a new store specializing in goods made in China.
Show threadLAF and LOVEApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid THIS
Show threadFreedmanApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid that is rediculous.
Show threadKenny MayneApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid I will never shop BB&B again.
Show threadScott GrimmettApr 24, 2023
@QasimRashid It stinks a lot like the mobster transferring the house into the wife’s name as the tax authorities close in. I believe in Australia we changed the law so that gifts made in the year previous could be recovered if the criminal declared bankruptcy.
Show threadJim GrishamApr 25, 2023
@QasimRashid Sounds as though Bain Capital had a hand in this.
Show threadMonarchLadyApr 25, 2023
@QasimRashid I guess I won’t be going to their bankruptcy sales after all.
Show threadDarcyApr 25, 2023
@QasimRashid
One big issue for CEO's of corporations is the fact they have a fiduciary duty to make the company & shareholders as much money as they can.
If they are found not doing that they can be charged & imprisoned.
The laws have to change. This is up to the federal government. starting with the house.
If there were a law saying the employees must be paid out first then this couldn't happen.
And every business in the country would be fighting it tooth and nail, along with every republican!