Bed Bath & Beyond just filed for bankruptcy with its shares down 99%. Here are the winners and losers from the meme stock's epic rise and fall.

• Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, leaving several winners and losers in its wake.
• Ryan Cohen and Jake Freeman made bank on the meme stock, while "Big Short" investor Michael Burry escaped the crash.

Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, bringing the meme stock's spectacular ride to an abrupt end for now.

The homeware retailer's stock price soared from below $4 in April 2020 to north of $50 in January 2021, but has crashed by more than 99% since then to trade around 20 cents today.

As a result, BBBY's market capitalization has plummeted from over $4 billion in early 2021 to below $100 million today. The drop at least partly reflects fading excitement around meme stocks, the surge in interest rates from almost zero to around 5%, and a shift in market sentiment as authorities have gone from mailing out stimulus checks during the pandemic to bracing for a recession.

Some people capitalized on BBBY's dramatic rise, while others were caught out by its painful fall and stand to suffer from its bankruptcy. Here are some of the key winners and losers in the meme stock's saga.

Winners

1. Investors who cashed out

Ryan Cohen, Chewy's cofounder and GameStop's chairman, invested in BBBY at prices ranging from about $13 to $17 in the first quarter of 2022. When the stock surged as high as $30 in August, he sold his shares and bullish call options for about $189 million, netting an estimated $68 million return in under eight months.

Jake Freeman, a college student, paid about $25 million for a BBBY stake that he first disclosed in late July. His firm, Freeman Capital Management, sold the whole position for over $130 million less than a month later, meaning it raked in about $110 million of profits.

Michael Burry, the investor of "The Big Short," likely made a solid return on BBBY stock based on the timing of his purchases, and got out before the stock crashed.

Burry's firm, Scion Asset Management, owned BBBY shares at the end of the third quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2020, before the meme-stock mania took hold in January 2021.

2. Short sellers

Investors who bet against BBBY have pocketed $1.3 billion since the stock peaked in January 2021, Bloomberg said on Tuesday, citing S3 Partners data.

Short sellers have racked up $142 million in mark-to-market profits over the past 12 months, the news outlet reported.

3. Customers (in the short term)

BBBY plans to keep its 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 buybuyBaby locations open as it starts to liquidate assets to repay its creditors. It's likely to offer big discounts on a wide range of products, allowing customers to scoop up bargains.

Losers

1. Retail investors

The investors still holding BBBY shares are likely sitting on huge losses, given the stock has nosedived by over 99% since January 2021.

Retail traders have racked up nearly $140 million of losses this year, after plowing over $730 million into the stock over the past two years, according to a Bloomberg analysis of Vanda Research data.

If BBBY stock is delisted as expected, shareholders are unlikely to receive the full value of their shares. In corporate bankruptcies, stockholders tend to be repaid only after creditors and bondholders are made whole.

2. Employees, suppliers, and creditors

BBBY is seeking approval from a bankruptcy court to continue paying its employees and suppliers, and to access a $240 million credit facility that will help to cover its operating costs.

Even if the company gets the green light, its workers, suppliers and creditors will undoubtedly be worried about the impact of bankruptcy proceedings on them.

BBBY — or whoever buys them out of bankruptcy, if anyone — may well decide to shrink headcount, cancel vendor agreements, and push for debt relief in a bid to overhaul and revitalize the business.

3. Customers (in the long term)

Fans of BBBY might snag some great deals on their favorite merchandise, but they could lose out in the long run. The company might reduce its store count, streamline its offerings, cut back on staff in its stores, or shut up shop entirely in the months ahead.

It's too soon to say what will be left of BBBY after bankruptcy, but it's hard to imagine the business will return to rude health right away.