If you looked for a Young Broadcasting stock quote on Nasdaq yesterday, you were disappointed. Nasdaq notified Young Broadcasting that the company had failed to return to compliance with the rules for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market and the stock was delisted as of the start of trading yesterday, Tuesday, January 27th. Young’s stock is now trading on the over the counter “pink sheets” using the same YBTVA stock symbol.
Young had been facing delisting since receiving a non-compliance notice from Nasdaq last February. In addition to trading below the $1 per share minimum, its market capitalization also fell below Nasdaq’s $15 million minimum. The company first voluntarily moved its stock from the Nasdaq Global Market to the small-cap Nasdaq Capital market. Over the past year there were a number of meetings by Young representatives with a Nasdaq panel on efforts to return to compliance with the exchange’s listing standards. Young even sought reinstatement to the Nasdaq Global Market in November after Nasdaq had suspended delistings for failure to trade above $1 per share, but that was denied.
The company gave this account of what then ensued: “The NASDAQ panel decision continued the Company’s listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market, conditioned upon the Company’s evidencing compliance with all continued listing standards for the NASDAQ Capital Market (but for the bid price rule) by January 20, 2009, and having a bid price of at least $1.00 for ten consecutive trading days by March 2, 2009. On December 23, 2008, the NASDAQ panel issued a decision extending suspension of enforcement of the bid price rule and indicating that the Company would be required to comply with that rule by June 1, 2009. The decision noted that the Company was still required to comply with the other standards for continued listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market by January 20, 2009.”
January 20th passed without Young being able to meet those requirements. Nasdaq notified Young that its stock would be delisted as of the start of trading on January 27th. Young did not appeal the decision.
“The Company is currently working with a market maker to complete the application to have its common stock quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board, a regulated quotation service for over-the-counter securities. However, the Company can provide no assurance that any market makers will commit to make a market in the Company’s shares,” Young said yesterday. For now, the stock is trading on the pink sheets.
