How The Mighty Have Fallen - old post

I didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh when I read the item below (from today’s Business section of the Philadelphia Inquirer).

Verticalnet to appeal Nasdaq's delisting notification

Verticalnet Inc. said it would appeal a delisting notification it received last week from Nasdaq. The stock exchange told Verticalnet it was subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Capital Market this Friday because Verticalnet shares had not maintained the minimum $1 bid price required by Nasdaq rules. Verticalnet said it expected its appeal to prevent delisting until it received a hearing from Nasdaq's listing-qualifications panel. Among the proposals listed in Verticalnet's proxy statement for its May 19 shareholder meeting is a request to perform a reverse stock split. That would, in effect, raise the company's share price while reducing the number of outstanding shares. Verticalnet's shares closed yesterday at 37 cents, down 3 cents.- Akweli Parker

As the blogger Saint Nate mentions here, Verticalnet, for a time, was probably the darling of local area tech stocks during the “dot.com which turned into dot.bomb” phase of the ‘90s. As nearly as I can recall, the company was trying to establish “virtual warehouses” in anticipation of other companies climbing onboard during the tech boom that many thought would never end. For this one-time giant to be delisted is truly a pitiable fall (I interviewed there once, at a time when the share price hovered in between the $90-$100 range).

If the company can’t trade, with its stock hovering below a dollar a share as it is, I can’t see how it can continue to exist in its current form. But don’t look to me for business advice – I could have sworn that Unisys, a company in even more dire straits, would be “pushing up the daisies” by now also.

Update 7/7/06: As reported in the Business section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer, VerticalNet has met NASDAQ listing requirements and will remain as a traded stock on that exchange.

Update 6/1/07: Here we go again...

Update 10/26/07: Let me guess, then (re: this); if you act now and purchase our supply-chain data management software, you get a free calzone?