雅虎香港財經 Goodbye Overstock.com. Hello Bedbathandbeyond.com.
Overstock.com decided to stop doing business online under its eponymous domain name after paying $21.5 million for the brand of Bed Bath & Beyond.
Overstock.com (OSTK) paid $21.5 million so it could use the brand of Bed Bath & Beyond, which filed for bankruptcy in April. It liked the name so much that it decided to stop using its own online.
The e-commerce retailer on Wednesday announced plans to scrap doing business online under its eponymous domain name and instead operate under Bedbathandbeyond.com.
The news came after its offer to buy Bed Bath & Beyond’s (BBBYQ) intellectual property assets was approved by a federal bankruptcy court. That deal does not include Bed Bath's physical stores, which are closing.
"We think we are a Bed, Bath, and a bigger and better Beyond," Overstock.com CEO Jonathan Johnson told Yahoo Finance in a live interview Thursday. "When this opportunity came up, it just made a lot of sense."
He said he expects the corporate name of Overstock.com would also change "in the coming months" but no decisions have been made yet on what that would be.
Bed Bath filed for Chapter 11 protection in US bankruptcy court in New Jersey in April, positioning the company for both a wind-down and the possibility of staying in business.
Bed Bath’s stock, which now trades as a penny stock, rose 60% in June. In pre-market hours shares were trading at $0.34.
Overstock's stock surged Thursday, climbing more than 13% as of 11 a.m. ET.
Overstock’s bid, submitted as a starting bid or floor bid known as a “stalking horse” purchase agreement, included Bed Bath’s brand name, business internet properties, mobile platform, advertising and marketing material, and business data.
However, it does not include the company’s physical retail stores or the company's buybuyBaby chain. It is not clear who would purchase the buybuyBaby chain.
Bed Bath did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance’s request for comment.
The approval indicates that the bankruptcy court, following a hearing over the agreements on June 27, determined that the Overstock.com agreement is in the best interests of Bed Bath’s debtors and stakeholders.
Overstock’s offer was the sole bid for the assets.
Within the next week, Overstock plans to relaunch the Bed Bath & Beyond domain in Canada, followed weeks later by the relaunch of a website, mobile app, and loyalty program in the United States.
New and existing customers of both Overstock and Bed Bath & Beyond will have a single online shopping destination — bedbathandbeyond.ca in Canada and bedbathandbeyond.com in the US.
Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.
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