NASDAQ Gives SCO The Boot

There are only so many times you can cheat the reaper.

In the case of embattled Unix vendor SCO, it appears as though time has run
out for its life as a publicly listed company on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Effective the open of business today, NASDAQ has delisted SCO’s publicly traded stock, which had traded under the symbol SCOX. At the close of business yesterday, shares of SCOX traded at a closing price of $0.18. During the last 52 weeks, shares of SCOX had ranged from $0.15 to $2.21. At the close of market yesterday, the stock had nearly 21.5 million shares outstanding.

SCO had previously fought off multiple NASDAQ delisting attempts over the course of this year. The delisting today, according to a SCO statement, came as a result of SCO’s bankruptcy filing in September.

At the time, NASDAQ warned SCO about being delisted because of its filing for bankruptcy. However, the company successfully managed to delay the delisting pending a hearing before NASDAQ.

Evidently that hearing did not go in SCO’s favor: According to a company statement today, SCO on Dec. 21 had again received notice from NASDAQ that the company would be delisted after all.

“At this time, the company has no comment,” a SCO spokesperson told InternetNews.com.

The bankruptcy-based delisting actually comes as one of two separate delisting actions that NASDAQ had pending against SCO.

SCO in September also received a warning letter from NASDAQ citing non-compliance with marketplace rules — namely, that its share price had fallen too low.

The company had been given until March 24, 2008, to raise its share price to at least $1.00 per share, for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days.

SCO had earlier faced a similar marketplace compliance issue in April, although it was able to raise its share price and became compliant by June.

The developments represent the latest turn of events in the Unix vendor’s long tailspin, which began on the heels of a devastating judgment in its legal battle against Novell over Unix copyrights.

In his August decision, Judge Dale Kimball found that Novell was the owner of the disputed Unix and UnixWare copyrights. That ruling triggered SCO’s formal bankruptcy protection that led ultimately to today’s SCOX delisting.

Though SCO has suffered legally and in the public markets, it has continued trying to keep its software business afloat. In October, the company attempted a deal to sell off its Unix business for as much as $36 million. In November, SCO actually released an update to its flagship OpenServer 6 Unix product line.