Emmis Communications has announced it will delist its Class A stock from Nasdaq and degregister it from the SEC reporting guidelines due to having fewer than 300 stockholders.
The company anticipates dislisting around May 13 and all public reporting requirements will end 90 days later. CEO Jeff Smulyan states that the expected savings from the move will be more than $1 million per year.
Emmis continues to own four stations and a magazine in Indianapolis, Network Indiana, 1190 WLIB and 98.7 WEPN (leased to ESPN) New York, Lencore Acoustics, controlling interest in Digonex and manages 97.1 WQHT and 107.5 WBLS New York after selling the stations to MediaCo Holdings last year.
Emmis Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: EMMS) (the “Company”) today announced that it will voluntarily delist its Class A Common Stock from the Nasdaq Stock Market, and based upon ownership of its shares by fewer than 300 holders of record, deregister its Class A Common Stock under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and suspend its public reporting obligations.
Jeffrey H. Smulyan, the Company’s CEO stated, “We’ve undertaken a detailed and thoughtful review of the costs and benefits associated with being a Nasdaq-listed and SEC reporting company. After careful consideration, our Board of Directors unanimously decided to voluntarily delist from Nasdaq and deregister with the SEC as we believe the expected savings of more than $1 Million per year outweigh the advantages of continuing as a Nasdaq-listed and SEC reporting company.”
The Company intends to file a Form 25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on or about May 4, 2020, in order to delist from Nasdaq. The Company anticipates that the last day of trading on Nasdaq will be on or about May 13, 2020. The Company’s Class A Common Stock may thereafter be eligible for trading on an over-the-counter market, if one or more brokers chooses to make a market for the Company’s Class A Common Stock; however, there can be no assurances regarding any such trading.
On or about May 14, 2020, the Company intends to file a Form 15 with the SEC, at which time the Company anticipates that its obligations to file periodic reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), including annual, quarterly and current reports on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, respectively, will be suspended, and that all requirements associated with being an Exchange Act-registered company will cease 90 days thereafter. The Company still intends to file its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending February 29, 2020.
Perhaps the larger story might be that publicly held Emmis boasts in Saturday’s Indpls Star, that they not only received 4.753 million dollars of PPP money, but that they also intend to keep it. That, in spite of the Treasury Department guidance “suggesting” they return it. Has any other publicly traded broadcaster taken PPP dollars? Not that I’ve seen.
https://www.indystar.com/story/money/2020/04/24/emmis-communications-voluntarily-delisting-nasdaq/3023920001/