Last Thursday’s suspension of listing requirements by the Nasdaq Stock Market served as a reprieve for a number of direct marketing-related firms, including one on the verge of being delisted.
Aptimus, a Seattle-based Internet advertising and marketing services firm, had been given notice by the Nasdaq in July that it was in danger of non-compliance.
“We were pretty far along in the appeals process, and time was running thin on us,” John Wade, Aptimus’s chief financial officer, told DIRECT Newsline.
Last Thursday, Nasdaq’s board suspended the exchange’s minimum bid price and public float values through Jan. 2, 2002, saying that it had done so in response to the events of Sept. 11. The board’s actions “will provide a greater stability to the marketplace during these times of economic uncertainty,” Wick Simmons, chairman and chief executive officer of Nasdaq, said in a statement.
Before the board’s decision, companies that had at least $4 million in net tangible assets had minimum stock price requirements of $1 and had to have at least 750,000 shares floated publicly.
Those that did not have at least $4 million in net tangible assets needed to maintain a minimum stock price of $5, and 1.1 million shares floated publicly. Companies that did not meet the requirements for 30 consecutive business days were given 90-day grace periods to bring their stock back in line.
As for Aptimus, “Our understanding is that we are on hold, which is very good news,” Wade said. “We will be listed through the end of this year.”
“We have spent the last nine months retrenching, cutting back, doing everything you could,” he said. “We are done cutting back, and now we are ready to grow our business.”
Other direct marketing firms that had been facing delisting include e-mail service firm EasyLink Services Corp., Edison, NJ, and 24/7 Media Inc., a Web advertising firm based in New York City. Published reports have put the total number of companies that would have needed to be reviewed at just over 650, or roughly 15% of Nasdaq’s 4,300 listed firms, at the time of the board’s decision.
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