GigaMedia Ltd (和信超媒體), a Taiwan-based Internet service and content provider, is facing delistment from the NASDAQ because the company no longer meets the minimum requirements for being included there, a company executive said yesterday.
"We've received a notice from the NASDAQ saying that if our stock can't go up to US$1 for 10 consecutive days within the next 90 days, GigaMedia would be removed from the NASDAQ national listing," Brad Miller, GigaMedia's investor relations director, told the Taipei Times yesterday.
GigaMedia traded unchanged overnight on the NASDAQ at US$0.51 per share. The share has traded below US$1 since Sept. 12.
Being the first Taiwanese company listed on the NASDAQ since February 2000, GigaMedia once traded as high as US$91 per share in March 2000. But following the burst of the Internet bubble worldwide, GigaMedia stocks began to drop in August, 2000, before it passed the critical US$1-level on Sept. 12 this year.
With GigaMedia trading below the US$1 level for more than 40 days so far, the company is experiencing its biggest challenge since its listing, Miller said.
This is the first time Giga-Media received a notice from NASDAQ and the company is considering several options in response.
It may seek to get listed on the NASDAQ small-cap listing -- where no stock-price minimum is required -- if their stocks are delisted from the main NASDAQ listing, Miller said.
The company may also work to buy back some of its outstanding shares to boost the price, he added.
"But there is no specific plan right now," Miller said, adding that the company is trying to improve its performance.
But a market analyst poured cold water on GigaMedia's efforts, saying the company is very likely to get delisted from the main NASDAQ listing.
* Being the first Taiwanese company listed on the NASDAQ since February 2000, GigaMedia once traded as high as US$91 per share in March 2000.
* Following the burst of the Internet bubble worldwide, GigaMedia stocks began to drop in August, 2000, before it passed the critical US$1-level on Sept. 12 this year.
* GigaMedia traded unchanged overnight on the NASDAQ at US$0.51 per share.
"With the global economy currently in a downturn and most investors being cold about Internet-related companies, it will be nearly impossible for GigaMedia shares to jump," said Lin Min-nung (林民農), an IT industry analyst at Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Corp (元大京華證券).
GigaMedia forecasted NT$675 million in sales this year and has about NT$1.9 billion in cash. The company's shares are 62 percent held by the Koo's Group (和信集團), a Taiwan business conglomerate that operates cement, banking and telecom businesses. The US software giant Microsoft Corp also owns an eight percent stake in GigaMedia.
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