Beyond, Inc.

[13] After initially relying solely on word-of-mouth marketing from customers,[14] the company turned to distinctive television advertisements starring German actress Sabine Ehrenfeld.In early 2007, John A. Fisher and Ray Groves resigned from the Overstock board of directors over disagreement with the company's prime broker suit.[22] Overstock stock dropped to a four-year low following the announcement,[23] which an analyst for investment bank Broadpoint Capital described as a "key loss".[26][27] The business started rebranding in early 2011, as "O.co," to simplify and unify its international operations[28] but interrupted this effort a few months later, citing consumer confusion over the new name, which utilized a Colombian country domain.Overstock president Jonathan Johnson told the Los Angeles Times that his firm had struggled to hire enough computer programmers and software developers to expand the business.In the email he admitted to a romantic affair with Maria Butina, an unregistered foreign agent of Russia, but Byrne did not provide additional information on how this prompted his resignation.[44] In October 2024, Beyond announced a $40 million investment in The Container Store, along with a new line of Bed, Bath & Beyond-branded household goods to be sold at its brick-and-mortar locations.Beginning in 2005, Byrne has contended that a number of companies, including Overstock.com, have been the targets of this practice, which involves selling a stock short but without the usual step of initially borrowing or locating the shares.[58] New York Times columnist Joseph Nocera has said in 2006 that, "Except for a few fellow-traveling Web sites, where Mr. Byrne is viewed as a heroic figure, most people who understand the issue or have looked into it think it's pretty bogus.SEC Chairman Christopher Cox called abusive naked short selling "a fraud that the commission is bound to prevent and to punish.[63] Rocker Partners, renamed Copper River Management, filed a counterclaim against Overstock in November 2007, alleging overstatement of profits, false projections, and misrepresentations about the company's ventures."[72] In February 2007, Overstock.com launched a $3.5 billion lawsuit against Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other large Wall Street firms, alleging a "massive illegal stock market manipulation scheme" involving naked short selling.Fields said, Byrne's "best approach now is probably to persuade the SEC, which continues to wander around the issue, or the government to serve subpoenas and let them decide whether or not his company was wronged."[74] John Coffee, director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia University Law School, described it as overly ambitious and "extremely unpromising.[77] That same month, the company filed a motion seeking to amend its lawsuit against the remaining defendants—Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch—to include claims of RICO violations.