Shares of Beyond Meat sink 50%, hit new all-time low as debt swap sparks big selloff

Shares of Beyond Meat, a small-cap producer of plant-based meat backed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Bill Gates, tumbled almost 50% yesterday, October 13, to an all-time low. This came after the company announced that investors had overwhelmingly accepted its offer to swap bonds for new debt and stock, triggering massive dilution.

Beyond Meat’s stock fell 48% yesterday to $1.03 per share, marking its steepest single-day decline since its 2019 debut. The company’s market capitalization has now dropped 72% since the start of 2025. The previous record low was set just a week earlier, when the stock closed at $1.82 per share. In premarket trading today, October 14, shares have rebounded 5.3% as of this writing.

The company said creditors had agreed to exchange $1.15 billion in 0% convertible senior notes due 2027 for $196.2 million in new 7% notes due 2030 and 316 million shares of common stock. The swap will help cut leverage and extend maturities but comes at the cost of massive dilution. According to company filings cited by Bloomberg, if all debtholders agree to the swap, they would own about 88% of Beyond Meat’s outstanding shares.

While the the debt swap may give the company some “breathing room” by reducing leverage and extending the maturity of its debt, the shareholder dilution is “pretty substantial,” said Bloomberg Intelligence’s Jennifer Bartashus.

With sales shrinking amid weak demand for plant-based meat, “there isn’t a lot to drive enthusiasm about the momentum of the business to offset the negative impact of the dilution,” Bartashus added.

The offer comes as Beyond Meat, a once promising startup with investments from Leonardo DiCaprio, is struggling with weakening consumer demand for plant-based meat substitutes in the U.S., its largest market. For the second quarter, the company reported a nearly 20% year-over-year decline in net revenue to $75 million. 

Against this backdrop, Beyond Meat announced a more aggressive reduction in operating costs. Specifically, the company said it would cut 6% of its workforce and appointed John Boken, who has 35 years of financial recovery experience, as interim chief transformation officer.

Wall Street remains broadly bearish. Beyond Meat has no “buy” recommendations, according to Bloomberg data. Five analysts rate the stock “hold,” while six advise “sell.”

The AI translation of this story was reviewed by a human editor.