Beyond, Inc. facts for kids
 |
|
|
Formerly
|
Overstock.com, Inc. (1999–2023) |
|---|---|
| Public | |
| Traded as | |
| Industry |
|
| Predecessors |
|
| Founded |
|
| Founder | Patrick M. Byrne |
| Headquarters |
,
U.S.
|
|
Key people
|
|
| Brands |
|
| Revenue |  US$1.93 billion (2022) |
|
Operating income
|
US$27 million (2022) |
| −US$35 million (2022) |
|
| Total assets | US$879 million (2022) |
| Total equity | US$646 million (2022) |
|
Number of employees
|
1,050 (2022) |
Beyond, Inc. is an American online store that sells many different things for your home. It used to be called Overstock, Inc. They own the popular brands "Bed Bath & Beyond" and "Overstock". You can find their online stores under these names. Based in Midvale, Utah, the company bought the name of the well-known store Bed Bath & Beyond in 2023. That store had faced financial troubles. Beyond, Inc. sells items like furniture, bedding, and decorations for your home. They often sell goods that are leftover or discounted.
Contents
Company History
Early Days as Overstock.com
The company started as D2:Discounts Direct on May 5, 1997. It faced financial difficulties in 1999. Patrick M. Byrne and Jason Lindsey then bought the company. They renamed it Overstock.com. At first, the company mainly sold extra or returned items online. They helped sell off products from many internet companies that had closed down. They sold these items at very low prices.
In 2001, Overstock created a special section called Worldstock. This part of the company showed and sold items made by artisans from all over the world. By 2006, about 6,000 different producers were selling their crafts through Worldstock.
In May 2002, Overstock offered its shares to the public for the first time. This is called an IPO. Each share cost $13.
Overstock.com also tried offering online auctions on its website starting in 2004. This service was called Overstock.com Marketplace. It was later known as O.co Marketplace. However, this auction service was stopped in July 2011.
The company first relied on customers telling others about their good experiences. Later, they started using TV commercials to advertise. These ads featured different spokespersons over time.
In 2009, Overstock made a profit of $7.7 million. By 2010, the company reported its first year with over a billion dollars in sales.
 |
|
| Owner | Beyond, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1987 |
| Previous owners | Bed Bath & Beyond (1987-2023) |
In 2011, Overstock's sales dropped by 5 percent. This happened after Google penalized them for certain online practices. Overstock had encouraged college websites to link to their pages for student discounts. This caused their products to appear lower in Google search results.
The company tried to change its name to "O.co" in early 2011. This was meant to make its international business simpler. But they stopped this effort a few months later. Customers were confused by the new name, which used a Colombian internet address.
Around the same time, Overstock.com bought the naming rights for a sports stadium. It was called the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. They renamed it Overstock.com Coliseum. Later, it became O.co Coliseum, matching their brief rebranding. The stadium's name changed back to Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in 2016.
In 2013, Overstock started supporting more immigration. The company's president, Jonathan Johnson, said they had trouble hiring enough computer programmers. He felt that allowing more skilled people into the country would help their business grow.
In 2014, Overstock began creating new software. This software would allow them to share company stock online. This was different from traditional ways like using the New York Stock Exchange.
Patrick Byrne, the CEO, took a break from work in April 2016 due to health reasons. Mitch Edwards, the company's lawyer, became the acting CEO. Byrne returned as CEO in July 2016.
On August 22, 2019, CEO Patrick Byrne resigned from his role at Overstock. He sent a long email explaining his decision. After his resignation, Jonathan E. Johnson became the new CEO.
The company announced a special "digital dividend" for its investors. This meant that for every 10 shares of regular stock, investors would get 1 share of a special digital stock. These digital shares could only be traded on a specific system. This system used technology from tZero, an Overstock company focused on blockchain technology.
Becoming Beyond, Inc.
In June 2023, Overstock.com won a bid to buy the brand name and other assets of Bed Bath & Beyond. They paid $21.5 million for these assets. On June 29, it was announced that Overstock.com would change its name to Bed Bath & Beyond. The name officially changed on August 1, 2023. This happened just two days after the original Bed Bath & Beyond stores closed their doors.
On October 24, 2023, the company announced another name change. They would become Beyond, Inc. This change took effect on November 6, 2023. On the same day, the company's stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under its new name. Jonathan Johnson resigned as CEO, and Dave Nielsen took over as interim CEO.
On March 28, 2024, Beyond, Inc. brought back the Overstock.com brand name. They plan for Overstock.com to sell more expensive items. This brand will target customers looking for bigger purchases and higher-income shoppers. Beyond also announced plans to bring back the Zulily brand in the second quarter of 2024.
In October 2024, Beyond announced a $40 million investment in The Container Store. They also planned to sell Bed, Bath & Beyond-branded items in The Container Store's physical locations. However, in November, Beyond expressed concerns. They worried that The Container Store might not reach agreements with its lenders. This could affect the investment deal. Beyond gave The Container Store a deadline of January 31, 2025, to secure the necessary financing.
How Beyond, Inc. Works
Beyond, Inc. sells many different types of products. Some of their items are bought or made specifically for the company. This includes handmade goods from workers in developing nations. The company also helps other stores manage their product supplies.
Bitcoin Payments
On January 9, 2014, Overstock.com became the first large store to accept bitcoin as payment. In the first 22 hours, they received over 800 orders paid with bitcoin. This was worth about $126,000. This showed a small increase in their daily sales.
By March 13, 2014, the amount of sales paid in bitcoin had become very small. It was less than 1% of their normal daily cash sales. In May 2014, the CEO, Patrick Byrne, said that bitcoin sales were "Tiny. <.1%". However, by mid-2014, Overstock.com announced that bitcoin sales were averaging $300,000 per month. They expected these sales to slightly increase the company's earnings for 2014.
Even with investments in bitcoin and other blockchain technologies, the company did not report any profits from these investments.
Stock Trading Discussions
The company received attention because its former CEO, Patrick Byrne, spoke out about certain stock trading practices. Starting in 2005, Byrne claimed that some companies, including Overstock.com, were being unfairly targeted. He believed that some people were selling company shares they didn't actually own or hadn't borrowed. This practice, he argued, could unfairly push down a company's stock price.
Byrne said that Overstock's frequent appearance on a special list from the SEC (a government agency) showed this problem. This list tracks companies with many "fails to deliver" shares. This means shares that were sold but not delivered on time. He also pointed to very high trading volumes for Overstock's stock. Sometimes, more shares were traded than actually existed. Byrne believed this proved his company was being targeted.
His campaign was debated by many. Some financial news outlets criticized Byrne. They suggested he was trying to distract from Overstock's own stock price drops. Others agreed that the problem was real. However, they believed the SEC was working to prevent it. They also thought it wasn't happening on the large scale Byrne suggested. The SEC Chairman, Christopher Cox, called abusive selling "a fraud."
Overstock filed a lawsuit against a company called Rocker Partners in 2005. They claimed Rocker Partners worked with a research firm to publish negative reports about Overstock. They said this was done to unfairly lower Overstock's stock price. Rocker Partners later filed their own lawsuit against Overstock. They claimed Overstock had exaggerated its profits.
In October 2008, Overstock and the research firm settled their claims. The research firm apologized and said they believed Overstock followed proper accounting rules. In December 2009, Rocker Partners also settled with Overstock. They agreed to pay Overstock $5 million.
In February 2007, Overstock.com filed a large lawsuit against several major Wall Street firms. They claimed these firms were involved in a "massive illegal stock market manipulation scheme." Overstock said that this unfair trading had caused "immense downward pressure" on its share prices. Some experts thought the lawsuit was too ambitious. Others believed it could help set new legal standards. Two members of Overstock's board of directors resigned because they disagreed with the lawsuit.
By December 2010, most of the firms involved settled with Overstock for $4.4 million. Overstock continued its lawsuit against two remaining firms, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Eventually, Merrill Lynch settled for $20 million in 2016.
See also
- E-commerce
- Online auction
