retailers stock breaks the buck after call for reverse stock split disappoints investors shares of bed bath  beyond inc tumbled monday below the 1 level a 30year low after the struggling homegoods retailer said it planned to hold a special meeting in which shareholders would vote on whether to allow the company to carry out a reverse stock split should its board decide to do so shareholder approval would amend bed bath  beyonds certificate of incorporation to carry out a reverse stock split of the companys common stock at a ratio in the range of 1for5 to 1for10 the ratio of the split will be determined by the retailers board of directors the time and location of the meeting will be announced later the company said our proposal for a reverse stock split will enable us to continue rebuilding liquidity to execute our turnaround plans and better position the company financially sue gove bed bath  beyonds chief executive said in a statement late friday the former meme stockbbby tumbled 136 in premarket trading monday the company said the split would not have any effect on its value or shareholders proportional ownership and that it could revoke the proposal and cancel the special meeting at any time if it determines that the reverse stock split is no longer in the best interests of the company and its shareholders companys that announce plans for reverse stock splits often see their shares drop as that move is often reserved for companies concerned that their stock price could or have fallen below levels below required to maintain listing requirements a 1for5 reverse split would effectively multiply the stocks price by 5  one requirement for a stock to be listed on the nasdaq exchange where bed bath  beyonds stock is currently listed is for a bid price of at least 1 the companys plan for a reverse split comes a couple of weeks after the retailer said it received gross proceeds of 135 million from exercising preferred stock warrants that were issued as part of a public equity offering which prompted a keybanc capital analyst to call it one of the most unusual financing situations witnessed in more than 20 years the stock was heading toward the lowest price seen on a splitadjusted basis since july 1992 or a month after the company went public it has plummeted 620 over the past three months while the sp 500 index has gained 25 this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal