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Media companies face delistings as stock prices collapse

Kerry Flynn
May 23, 2023
Data: Yahoo Finance; Note: NYSE suspended trading in Audacy on May 16; Chart: Axios Visuals
Data: Yahoo Finance; Note: NYSE suspended trading in Audacy on May 16; Chart: Axios Visuals

Innovid has become the latest media company at risk of delisting, with the New York Stock Exchange sending the ad tech firm a notice for its average closing price being less than $1 over a period of 30 consecutive trading days.

Why it matters: The collapse of some media stocks have come from bad SPAC deals.

Details: Innovid and BuzzFeed both went public via SPAC deals in December 2021 — the former on the NYSE and the latter on the Nasdaq. They have each seen their stock prices dramatically drop over the past year.

  • BuzzFeed has avoided a delisting notice, for now. Its shares spiked following news of it working with OpenAI and striking a new deal with Meta. But it's since come back down to trading under $1 over the past month.
  • Audacy's stock was halted on May 16 as the NYSE initiated its delisting process. The company said it intends to appeal.

Yes, but: Audacy, formerly known as Entercom, did not go public via a SPAC deal. Its IPO was in 1999.

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