Bed Bath & Beyond plunges 28% as the meme-trader favorite plans offering of up to 12 million shares and to cut up to 20% of staff

• Bed Bath & Beyond shares tumbled 28% Wednesday after updates from the struggling retailer.
• The meme-trader favorite plans a stock offering of up to 12 million shares.

Bed Bath & Beyond shares lost nearly a third of their value Wednesday after the struggling housewares retailer and meme-trader favorite said it plans to launch a stock offering and is closing more than 100 stores as it continues restructuring efforts.

Shares tumbled as much as 28% to $8.76, the lowest price in a week, as trading in the regular session got underway. The decline was then slightly pared to 25%.

The selloff was sparked by the company's updates that included notification of an at-the-market stock offering of up to 12 million shares. The amount represents 15% of the company's outstanding shares of roughly 79.9 million shares.

In its strategic update, the company said it's already in the process of closing more than 150 "lower-producing" stores. It will also cut 20% of its workforce, including corporate and supply-chain level staff. Those two moves will save $250 million in fiscal year 2022, it said.

"We have taken a thorough look at our business, and today, we are announcing immediate actions aimed to increase customer engagement, drive traffic, and recapture market share," interim CEO Sue Gove said in a statement.

The company also said it has secured $500 million in new financing which will in part help drive rebalancing of inventory to drive traffic.

The company also said Wednesday it has eliminated the roles of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Stores Officer, and with that, John Hartmann and Gregg Melnick will be leaving.

Bed Bath & Beyond has been the center of a meme-stock rally resurgence in recent weeks. Its shares in August had soared as high as $30, then plunged after Ryan Cohen, the retailer's then second-largest shareholder, sold his holdings. Ahead of Wednesday's session, the stock had trimmed its year-to-date loss to 17%.