A wildly popular conspiracy theory about why there are so many Mattress Firm stores is starting to sound less crazy

pulse

January 23, 2018 8:13 PM

There's a Reddit conspiracy theory about why there are so many Mattress Firms — and "accounting irregularities" at the company are making it sound less crazy.

Mattress Firm is the largest specialty mattress retailer in the US.
Some argue that the company has too many stores, sometimes in high concentrations.
A comment on Reddit that suggested that Mattress Firm was laundering money went viral on Tuesday but has since been removed.
Mattress Firm's parent company recently disclosed "accounting irregularities," Reuters reported.

If you've ever wondered why there seems to be a Mattress Firm on every corner in your city, you're not alone. But one explanation for this phenomenon is more extreme than you might expect.

On Tuesday, a comment on Reddit claiming that Mattress Firm, the largest specialty mattress retailer in the US, is a money-laundering operation went viral — but it has since been deleted, The Next Web reported.

"Mattress Firm is some sort of giant money laundering scheme," a Reddit user wrote, adding: "I remember seeing 4 mattress firms all on each corner of an intersection once, and there is no way there is such a demand for mattresses."

This caused an outcry on the Reddit thread.

Mattress Firm, which acquired Sleepy's in 2015, now has over 3,500 stores, sometimes in high concentrations. But Reddit users argue that there are too many, especially given that it stocks a product that people typically buy every seven to 10 years.

It's a popular conspiracy theory on Reddit.

"Multiple stores = more places to shuffle money between and more sources for fake money to appear to come from," another user wrote.

The South African retailer Steinhoff bought Mattress Firm for $3.8 billion in 2016. At the time, analysts were skeptical about why Steinhoff had forked over so much for a business increasingly threatened by new startups such as Casper.

Toward the end of last year, Steinhoff's stock price tanked by as much as 62% in one day, wiping out $15 billion of its market value, Reuters reported. The company postponed publishing its full-year accounts, citing "accounting irregularities," and its two top executives and chairman have resigned.

Mattress Firm did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

pulse