Bed, Bath & Beyond made plenty of mistakes that led to this week’s bankruptcy filing. “The company’s stewardship of their capital failed,” said Declan Gargan, retail director and credit analyst who follows Bed, Bath & Beyond for S&P Global Ratings. Across Corporate America, share repurchases reached a record $936 billion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, up from $882 billion in 2021. In fact the Bed, Bath & Beyond share repurchases were not enough to stop activist investors from pushing out top management of the company in 2019. President Joe Biden, a frequent critic of share repurchases, included a 1% tax on share repurchases in the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in Congress last year.

Source: CNN April 26, 2023 14:13 UTC