The World Poker Tour has been receiving hit after hit, from been taken to court by several high stake professional poker players, having to switch networks constantly, decreased ratings and now the World Poker Tour has been notified of possible NASDAQ delisting.
In the summer of 2005 the World Poker Tour Enterprise (WPTE) stock peaked at over $29.00 and many professional poker players owned a great deal of shares, which actually financed several players bankrolls. It was also rumored at this time that Doyle Brunson made a $700 million unsolicited bid to purchase the WPT.
Doyle might have caught a big break by not obtaining the WPT as three years later the stock has been trading under $1.00 with roughly 20,000 shares trading per day. NASDAQ has a listing rule where a stock can’t close below $1.00 for 30 consecutive business days and sine July 1st their stock has not closed above $1.00.
On Tuesday the World Poker Tour announced and acknowledged that they have received a letter from the NASDAQ informing them of the possible determination of their listing. NASDAQ has given the WPT 180 days to meet the requirements, which will require them to trade the stock above 1.00 for ten consecutive business days. If the WPT cannot meet this goal they will be officially delisted from the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The World Poker Tour executives will have a few options and tough choices ahead of them. The most likely option is to execute a reverse stock split, which decreases the amount of shares by 50% while increasing the value of the shares by 50%. Another option would be to trade Over the Counter, which is commonly referred to as Pink Sheets.
The World Poker Tour Enterprise still remains confident that they can turn things around and can be seen as a profitable company to investors. Especially, since they announced a new exclusive broadcast deal with Fox Sports Network.
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