The only thing delisting does is that the stock doesn't trade on whatever exchange it got delisted from. It would still exist and you would still own it. No one is going to pay you out. It would trade over the counter.
Cost reduction: A company must adhere to many listing requirements to continue listing its shares on the stock exchanges, costing them money. To reduce such costs, it may delist the shares.
delisting will lead to a saving of the listing fees and will free the company from listing rule restrictions. If there is little trade in the company's shares and the company is unlikely to raise new capital in public markets, the usual benefits for the company of being listed may be minimal.
Voluntary delisting occurs when a company chooses to remove its stock from a major exchange, often because it is going private, merging with another company, or feels the costs of being publicly listed outweigh the benefits.
The Impact of Delisting on Investors
However, a delisted stock often experiences significant or total devaluation. Therefore, even though a stockholder may still technically own the stock, they will likely experience a significant reduction in ownership. In some cases, stockholders can lose everything.
Relisting of voluntarily delisted stocks: Such shares will have to wait five years from their delisting date to get relisted again. Compulsory delisting: If a company has been delisted compulsorily, they will have to wait for 10 years before they can be listed again on the exchanges.
A company whose shares have been delisted from an exchange, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, could potentially apply to get them relisted once again. However, the relisting process can be very challenging and may even require the company to meet all of the listing requirements once again.
If you still hold shares after they are delisted, you can sell them—just not on the exchange on which they traded before. Stock exchanges are very advantageous for buying and selling shares. When they delist and trade over the counter (OTC), selling shares and getting a reasonable price for them becomes much harder.
A publicly held company may deregister its equity securities when they are held by less than 300 shareholders of record or less than 500 shareholders of record, where the company does not have significant assets.
Although some brokerages restrict such OTC transactions, you generally can sell a delisted stock just as you would a stock that trades on an exchange. A delisted stock can continue to trade over the counter for years, even if the company files for bankruptcy.
If the closing bid price of a company's shares are below $1.00 for 30 consecutive trading days, the company is considered to be in violation of Minimum Bid Price Requirement.
If you own securities, including stocks, and they become totally worthless, you have a capital loss but not a deduction for bad debt. Worthless securities also include securities that you abandon.
When a stock is delisted, options trading on that stock typically ceases. This means that options holders are no longer able to buy or sell their options on the open market. However, they still have the right to exercise their options if they choose to do so.
If someone misses applying for the delisting, they can tender the shares offline directly to the company, and the company will buy them back. Shareholders will have a one-year period from the date of unlisting to tender the shares to the company.
The value of shares doesn't automatically rise or fall with a delisting, but when an involuntary listing takes place, it's often a sign that a company is approaching bankruptcy. In this case, there's a chance investors might lose their investment.
So though the shares are not traded on the stock exchanges after delisting, they are still there in your demat account. So, delisting cannot amount to extinguishment of the shares or your rights in the shares.
Under Nasdaq Rule 5550(a)(2) (Primary Equity Security listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market) and Rule 5450(a)(1) (Primary Equity Security listed on the Nasdaq Global or Global Select Markets), Nasdaq-listed companies are required to maintain a minimum bid price of at least $1.00 per share.
The delisting of shares results in the impossible selling of shares until the company goes through the exit route. It is effectively irrecoverable and is a loss to the taxpayer. Once the company goes through liquidation or is referred to NCLT under IBC, NCLT declares the company to drop the shares and claim the loss.
If a company's stock is delisted from an exchange, shareholders still own their shares in the company, but the stock may trade over-the-counter, which could lead to decreased liquidity and less transparency for investors.
Delisted stocks will not be automatically removed/ liquidated from a user's account. The user can submit orders if the client wishes to remove or liquidate them. When a stock becomes delisted it will usually be quoted and traded over the counter (OTC).
Companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market must meet requirements for continued listing. If a company can't maintain the minimum requirements to remain listed, Nasdaq will delist it. Failure of a company to meet a minimum closing bid price of at least $1 for 30 consecutive trading days can trigger delisting.
It may be surprising to hear, but delistings are not a rare occurrence in the stock market. Between 2020 and 2021, exchanges such as the NYSE and NASDAQ witnessed over 170 stocks delist for a variety of reasons.
What happens when an investor maintains a short position in a company that gets delisted and declares bankruptcy? The answer is simple: The investor never has to pay back anyone because the shares are worthless. Companies sometimes declare bankruptcy with little warning. Other times, there is a slow fade to the end.