4. Introduction to the delisting system of major stock exchanges in the United States

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Investing 101
Mon, Aug 29, 2022, 9:12 AM ET  ·  2 min read  ·  0 view

In the United States, the main criteria for the delisting of listed companies include: the degree of dispersion of ownership, ownership structure, operating performance, asset size and the distribution of dividends.  Delisting is also divided into voluntary delistings (e.g., privatization) and regulatory delistings.  The following are the rules and procedures for the two major markets in the US.


1. Delisting criteria of the New York Stock Exchange


The New York Stock Exchange has made more specific provisions on the termination of listing of listed companies. These provisions mainly relate to the following aspects:

1. The total number of shareholders is less than 400;

2. The total number of shareholders is less than 1,200 and the average monthly trading volume in the past 12 months is less than 100,000 shares;

3. The public shareholding is less than 600,000 shares;

4. The total market value has been below US $50 million for 30 consecutive days;

5. Shareholders' equity is less than US $50 million;

6. 30 consecutive days with a total market cap of less than US $375 million and total revenue of less than US $15 million in the past 12 months;

7. The average total market capitalization was below US $100 million in the past 30 days;

8. The parent company or affiliated company of the listed company is no longer holding the controlling shares of the company, or the parent company or affiliated company is no longer eligible for listing;

9. The average total market capitalization is less than US $75 million and shareholders' equity is less than US $75 million in the past 30 days


2. Nasdaq's Delisting Criteria


1, Shareholders' equity is less than US $2.5 million;,

2. The market value is less than 35 million U.S. dollars;

3, The net profit from operations in two of the most recent fiscal year or three of the most recent fiscal years was less than US $0.5 million;

4. The number of shares to be held by the public is less than 500,000;

5, The public is holding a stock market value of less than $1 million;,

6. The stock price has been below US $1 for 30 consecutive trading days;

7. The total number of shareholders is less than 300;

8. The number of market makers is less than 2;


In terms of minimum offer price, the Nasdaq market stipulates that if the price of a listed company's stock is less than one dollar per share, and this condition continues for 30 trading days, the Nasdaq market will issue a loss warning. If the warned company fails to take corresponding measures to save itself to change its stock price within 90 days of issuing the warning, it will be declared suspended from trading.  This is the so-called "one dollar delisting rule."  "One dollar" is Nasdaq's market standard to judge whether a listed company is losing money, rather than the actual operating conditions of the company.  However, this market standard also objectively reflects the true intrinsic value of listed companies.  In addition to the above quantitative indicators, the Nasdaq market has other requirements for the initial or continued listing of the company, including: first, the requirements for the corporate governance structure, including the submission of annual and interim reports, independent directors, internal audit committee, shareholders' meeting, voting mechanism, and the mechanism for soliciting proxy voting rights to avoid conflicts of interest, etc.; second, the requirements for the company's business compliance and law-abiding requirements.  Delisting procedures could be triggered, for example, if a company shares below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days.  Nasdaq will immediately notify the company within 180 days, including non-business days, to make rectifications to meet requirements.  During the rectification period, if the company's stock price can maintain above $1 for at least 10 consecutive days, it will be regarded as meeting the rectification standard.  Typically, this is a time when a company takes on a pooled share to boost its share price.


Due to different reasons for triggering the delisting, the whole process can be as short as one month, or as long as seven months, from the beginning of the triggering process to the final delisting action (assuming that the enterprise is ultimately unsuccessful in its appeal).


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