MW Bed Bath & Beyond parent company's latest problem has nothing to do with retail

By Bill Peters

Beyond Inc.'s second-quarter results beat estimates, but the online retailer, which is also a blockchain company, is trying to jumpstart its crypto business

Shares of Beyond Inc. rose then fizzled after hours on Monday after the online retailer, which oversees the resurrected Bed Bath & Beyond and Overstock.com, reported second-quarter results that weren't as bad as expected.

But the company's blockchain investments - along with retail, its crypto roots go back at least a decade - have been a different story. And its chief executive on Monday also urged more concerted action to deliver results from those businesses, as investor pressure intensifies and cryptocurrency regulation starts to take shape.

Beyond Inc. $(BYON)$ reported second-quarter revenue of $282 million, down 29.1% year over year, but above FactSet forecasts for $250 million. The company reported an adjusted loss per share of 22 cents a share, better than the 36 cents a share expected.

The company's net loss narrowed significantly during the quarter, to around $19 million from more than $42 million a year ago. But active customers also fell during the quarter.

Shares initially moved sharply higher immediately after the bell, but those gains evaporated as the after-hours session went on. As of the close of trading, shares had jumped around 109% so far this year.

Beyond has tried to lure customers back to Bed Bath & Beyond - whose assets it snapped up following the home-goods chain's collapse in 2023 - and Overstock following the collapse of the former and the phasing out, and then phasing back in, of the latter. It has taken steps to refresh the websites of both shopping platforms, as higher living costs and a tight housing market crimp demand for home goods.

Along with online retail, Beyond also has some investments in blockchain through Overstock, whose founder, Patrick Byrne, was a major booster of that technology. Those investments include tZero, a trading and financial services platform, and GrainChain, a blockchain-based payments platform for the agricultural industry.

Marcus Lemonis, Beyond's principal executive officer, said in a statement on Monday that he was hoping the company could get a boost from the Genius Act, the new law that provides regulatory guidelines on so-called stablecoins.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is often pegged to traditional money or other financial assets, and thus more stable than more volatile digital coins like bitcoin. The Trump administration has made cryptocurrency deregulation a priority.

"With the newly signed-into-law Genius Act creating long-awaited regulatory clarity and consumer protections for digital assets, we believe the proprietary technology and innovative practices both tZero and GrainChain bring to the business ecosystem are significant," Lemonis said.

But in a separate letter on Monday, Lemonis urged tZero to "take specific and prioritized actions to unlock value and capitalize on the present favorable market conditions."

He recommended, among other things, filing a shelf registration, restructuring the board to bring in people with experience with digital assets, and finding partners who could drive deals. In a letter a week earlier, he said tZero should look at ways to go public on the New York Stock Exchange, via an IPO or through a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

Meanwhile, Shay Capital, which described itself as a "significant" shareholder of Beyond, last week said it was "deeply concerned by the lack of progress" in making money off tZero and GrainChain.

"The time has come to unlock the substantial value embedded in these blockchain assets to deliver meaningful returns to loyal shareholders," they said.

"Over the past decade, Beyond shareholders have invested over $400 million in these ventures, yet the carrying value of these assets on the company's balance sheet significantly undervalues their true potential," the letter continued.

-Bill Peters

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July 28, 2025 18:15 ET (22:15 GMT)

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