Big Board To GateHouse: Shape Up -- Or Ship Out

By: Mark Fitzgerald The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has warned GateHouse Media Inc. its slumping stock could be dropped from the Big Board.

GateHouse stock (NYSE: GHS) has violated listing requirements by trading below $1 on average over the past 30 trading days, and letting its market capitalization slip below $75 million.

Friday GateHouse closed at 60 cents, down 2 cents, or 3.23%. In the last year, GateHouse has slid from a high of $13.75 to a low, on Aug. 4, of 40 cents. Its market cap at the close of markets Friday is an indicated $34.9 million.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after markets closed Friday, GateHouse disclosed it had been notified by NYSE Regulation Inc., the Big Board's enforcement unit, that it has 45 days to come up with a business plan that would get its stock up to listing requirements within 18 months.

GateHouse said it intends to respond within the required 10 days that it will develop such a plan. NYSE Regulation earlier this summer suspended GateHouse stock from floor trading, but it continued to trade on its electronic exchanges. GateHouse will continue to trade, but Monday, the NYSE will assign a ".BC" indicator to its GHS symbol, signifying the stock is not currently in compliance with listing standards.

GateHouse is now the third newspaper stock this year to be threatened with delisting by the NYSE.

Journal Register and Sun-Times Media Group both initially responded they intended to file a business plan to get their share prices and market caps in compliance.

Both quickly left the exchange.

NYSE Regulation booted Journal Register off without waiting for its plan, and Sun-Times Media Group withdrew voluntarily.

Both Journal Register (Other OTC: JRCO.PK) is carried on the Pink Sheets electronic quotation system for Over-The-Counter market-makers and brokers. It closed Friday unchanged at 3 cents a share. It has traded as low as a penny in recent weeks.

Sun-Times Media Group stock (OTC BB: SUTM.0B) is carried on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board. It closed Friday at 25 cents, down 5 cents, or 16.67%.