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Atari in delisting danger once again

Publisher's market value dips below Nasdaq minimum level; stock exchange gives company 90 days to regain compliance.

Although the New Year is often seen as a time to turn over a new leaf, Atari finds itself facing a very familiar problem. The Nasdaq Stock Exchange warned the publisher late last month that it was in danger of being dropped from the exchange.

Atari began 2007 under a similar threat of delisting because for much of 2006, the company's share price resided below the exchange's minimum of $1 per share. The publisher's answer to the problem was a reverse stock split; Atari reduced its total number of shares to one-tenth the previous number, which effectively made every remaining share worth 10 times as much.

The move buoyed the company's stock well above the $1 mark and kept it on the stock exchange, at least for a while. The latest warning, announced by the publisher on December 27, will take more than a reverse stock split to fix. The publisher is in violation of the Nasdaq's minimum market-value requirements, which means that the sum of its publicly held shares (all shares minus those owned by executives and owners of 10 percent or more) was less than $15 million for 30 straight days.

Now Atari must bring its market value above the $15 million mark and hold it there for 10 consecutive days by March 20 or face delisting from the Nasdaq. If the stock exchange does decide to drop the publisher at that time, Atari may appeal the ruling.

Despite last month's settlement of a licensing dispute that could have cost it the lucrative Dragon Ball Z license, Atari's fortunes have been generally down as of late. The publisher has withdrawn from its North American development business, its CEO of less than a year resigned in November, and it warned investors in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that there was "substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern."

105 Comments

  • Azhar85

    Posted Jan 6, 2008 2:37 pm GMT

    make a new DBZ games for 360 and ps3...

  • Vampire_Turtle

    Posted Jan 6, 2008 5:12 am GMT

    Atari have published some very cool games such as: The Witcher, The Neverwinter Nights, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Unreal Tournament(s), Test Drive Unlimited.

    Also if Atari went bust then I would not be able to see how well their new title is going, Alone in the Dark.

    Atari, maybe it is time you did die. You've had a good run, now get to the finish line and the bottle of bubbily.

  • yoyoman10

    Posted Jan 5, 2008 11:20 am GMT

    all these problems will go away when yet another DBZ fighter for the PS2 comes out. the kids love them some DBZ

  • KhanhAgE

    Posted Jan 4, 2008 6:38 pm GMT

    Atari have published some great games IMO (albeit never developed, only published). They've taken risks on games that other publishers wouldn't even touch.

    "The Witcher" is an Atari published game. But I would bet that many people here have never even heard of it. "Act of War" would be another example (it came out during the time of C&C: Generals).

    I hope they stick around.

  • ULTIMATEZWARRIO

    Posted Jan 4, 2008 12:36 pm GMT

    maybe if they would stop making half - a$$ games then they wouldn't be doing so terribly, even there dbz games have gone down the drain, they need to sit themselves down and take the money and time that they have left (if any) to make a really solid game that would bring trust back into the company

  • Gooper_Blooper

    Posted Jan 4, 2008 8:08 am GMT

    Pipeworks, get outta there!

  • minhas32

    Posted Jan 4, 2008 1:45 am GMT

    Atari lives fore ever

  • AvIdGaMeR444

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 8:11 pm GMT

    Is there anyone here that would be generally upset if Atari fell off the face of the planet? Most of the games they publish/develop are rotten with the exception of a few. Atari has terrible decision makers running the business.

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:30 pm GMT

    I dont think Atari can "sell itself" to anyone, its been sold more times than a 1977 Monte Carlo. In fact I dont even know if any of the ORIGINAL Atari founders are alive anymore

    Thats not true, I hear they moved into a bunker next to the land fill that has all those un-sold copies of ET.

  • shroom76

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 6:48 pm GMT

    :/

    on one hand im sad for them, but on the other hand i cant recall them coming out with any new games recently that were any good.

  • cytheh

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 4:54 pm GMT

    a game company doesn't need powerful graphic engines, all it needs is a good idea. Nintendo proofed this more than one time. Such as nintendo ds, nintendo wii and so on. Atari lacks this kind of idea, this kind of renovation in games. LocoRoco doesn't need much 3d to make a fun game. WarioWare series are games that are almost like flash games, but it's so fun to play ( strongly suggest to play warioware twisted on gba, really fun). A publisher without developer can not be strong.

  • azone12

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 3:44 pm GMT

    that sucks no more roller coaster tycoon

  • TheC0m1ssar

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 3:22 pm GMT

    What nikolokolus says is completely true, this isn't the "Atari" that made the old generation gaming machines, it's just a subsidiary of Infogrames that bought the title to publish games with.

    Infogrames used to be a good company. I wonder where they went wrong?

  • nikolokolus

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 1:21 pm GMT

    After reading through all of the comments it seems only one or two people actually even really know what the name "Atari' means in today's world; it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames, who in turn merely bought the name for a pittance and decided to use the brand to market a certain segment of their owned licenses (namely DBZ, and the Dungeons and Dragons license). If this brand dies it really has zero connection to Bushnell, and the Atari company of the 70's and 80's that achieved such success.

    At this point the biggest losers would be developers that are being funded by Atari to develop current titles.

    Too bad infogrames mismanaged this brand so badly; the luster has really faded on this once proud name.

  • p00phead

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 1:04 pm GMT

    Atari might have to sell it self to a company or even sell it's many game licenses

  • theKSMM

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 1:02 pm GMT

    Nolan Bushnell is probably pouring himself a shot after hearing this depressing news, but I suspect that even if the company Atari dies off, the name will live on.

    Long live Atari.

    Read my opinions on gaming in my blog The Score.

  • Legend002

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 12:54 pm GMT

    Ouch,that gotta hurt.

  • Varkas

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 12:53 pm GMT

    The Atari name has become synonymous with a beaten down, bent out of shape hooker that can’t even draw in the desperate sailor demographic. Let it die guys, just let it die there is no beauty anymore, and it's starting to smell funny.

  • muffinduck01

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 12:22 pm GMT

    its sad really at the very begining of gameing in the arcades atari was IT they were the best company and they made REALLY awsome games.

    After that thry realesed the home version of pong

    then the Atari 2600 (which is actually a lot of fun still i think)

    Then they sold the company to warner and since then Atari has been circleing the drain for over 25 years

    They thought they were on top of the world and they could realase anything they wanted and it would sell

    and then came the dreaded ET

    they actually made more copys of ET then there were 2600's in exsistance and the game SUCKED and all the unsold copys were crushed and buried in the desert

    Then they realeased the 5200 system and hardly any systems were sold

    And whats even worse is then they realese a 7800 system and hardly any stores wold even carry the system later still they promised more 2600 games but they never came

    they even turned down an offer from Nintendo to sell the NES in america and after the jaguier and a handheld system that i cant remember the name at the time atari turned to third party re-hashing all its glory days games a mirad of other crap

    so really absolute power corrupts absolutly R.I.P Atari

  • redskinStu

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 12:20 pm GMT

    Sounds like they're ripe for buy-out.

  • ColGryFox

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 11:53 am GMT

    Ya it might be sad that atari is going under soon, but it serves them right. If you actually know the history of video games, you would know that after atari got taken over by warner, they brought alot of needless policies in and fired alot of the major members/founders of Atari. Then they just brought in a wholebunch of corporateness into it. Then they sorta did what Sony is doing now where they think they are top of the market and that their position will last forever and started caring less for the customers and more aobut the money.

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 11:37 am GMT

    Atari is running short on lives these days.

  • VGuzz

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 11:12 am GMT

    If Atari wants to save itself it should make a REAL Gaunlet 3. A top down view game that resembles the 80's Gauntlet game. It should be playable online with a random Dungeon and Quest generator. I can't Imagine how many people would buy that with the retro gaming thing so popular right now.

  • speedjunkie4

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 11:02 am GMT

    Atari is in a pickle that they likely won't get out of.

  • hunter8man

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 10:35 am GMT

    Someone, anyone, BUY ATARI QUICK!!


    Now that I think about it, the game store I used to work for a couple of years ago had a clearance sale on quite a few games for $5. A lot of them were Atari titles. I hate to see a company with a rich gaming history fall like this. Except for Acclaim. Aside from NBA Jam, their games sucked hard.

  • klugenbeel

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 10:17 am GMT

    Buy Atari stock and save the company? Maybe?

  • andrew_ribbons

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 10:15 am GMT

    Aww, it would be criminal to allow one of the founders of Gaming worldwide to fade away. I mean, guys, EA is near the largest published. E frickin A! E release it faster A. E we don't give a flying eff about us customers, ignore patches A. While Atari is barely able to make ends meet. It's not on.

  • legend26

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 10:05 am GMT

    this makes me sad....R.I.P Atari

  • GeigerdolylWodd

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 9:59 am GMT

    Anyone remeber the Atari Jaguar? Do a search for it. If memory serves me right it predates the nintendo gamecube, ps2, and xbox. But it promised to deliver the same graphics as the nintendo 64. Here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Jaguar

  • vpaixao

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 9:43 am GMT

    Do you know what I saw the other day? A 6 game pack( all games by atari) that included marck echo and fahrenheit for 20 euros( roughly 30 bucks) for the pc. 30 dollars for 6 games... That's sad.

  • Del_The_Prophet

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 9:21 am GMT

    Good bye, Atari.

  • Zoomer30

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 8:54 am GMT

    Hosing your investors with a reverse stock split is no way to make friends. They do the RS, the price goes up, then they probably just turn around and issue MORE shares.

  • Sonicgod

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 8:37 am GMT

    Everybody must sing the Atari Infogrames theme song!

    http://anthems.zdnet.co.uk/anthems/infogrames.mp3

    infogrames/atari rocks your world.mp3

  • XanderZane

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 8:22 am GMT

    Atari just needs to be bought out by another company. Anyone, but EA and they might be alright. They can't go it alone at this point. No one cares about Dragon Ball Z anymore. Everyone is watching Naruto, Bleach, Death Note and The Boondocks.

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 8:10 am GMT

    Atari just needs to go out of business.

  • bad_boy_sam123

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:56 am GMT

    Atari was one of the pioneering gaming companies, but as of late their marketing of games has been poor despite the quality of the game they are trying to sell. Games like Fahrenheit and The Witcher are superb games which were unseen by the public. The DBZ franchise has been the only successful in marketing, only because the name sells itself.

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:37 am GMT

    Atari needs help ... time to create a scam to get gamers to donate to restoring your brand to gaming goodness!

    Make good games and you will reap the worthiness!

  • okassar

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:31 am GMT

    Either they find a way to get some cash that can jump-start the company again or just give up and keep away from losing more money. They are incapable of making a good game even if they have good ideas and that's because of money,what an unhealthy company.Yes,lol,I just used unhealthy to describe a company.

  • enofr

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:25 am GMT

    To the people saying they can't remember when atari published a good game. Get your facts straight. Ever thought about the fact that it could simply be because you don't apreciate the genres atari usually publish? IMO, Atari is synonymous with great RPG games.

    It's not even 2 months ago, that they released The Witcher. A brilliant game, that should've sold way more. Also they published neverwinter nights (1 and 2), as well as a few of troika's titles. However, I do agree that their brand/marketing strategy isn't really that effective. And they've also been unlucky with buggy games. Maybe cause they've always had a shakey reputation - therefore pushing out titles early just to stay above water.

    Also compared to EA that totally hore-out every letterbox-case they get theirs mitts on, the small red atari sticker realy isn't that noticable.

  • wehrmacht33

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:12 am GMT

    Like the guy who said "Atari's been dead since E.T." I can't remember a time since that Atari wasn't doing poorly.
    I mean how many times now has the company name Atari been bought and sold? I think it's cursed er something lol. I'd love for the name Atari to have value again if only for nostalgic reasons.

  • xarianuniverse

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:10 am GMT

    Good, now, either they bring out good games in 3 months, or they're company will be destroyed and Dragon Ball will finally belong to a good company.

  • thekodaman

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:07 am GMT

    Why wont you die already!!?!?!?

  • razu_gamer

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 6:53 am GMT

    Atari...mke good games for Wii and DS and you will be back in business.

  • BSantamorena

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 6:45 am GMT

    Not a huge fan of this Atari but definetly like Test Drive Unlimted great game.

  • vpaixao

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 6:22 am GMT

    No offense, but it's survival of the fitest. Besides, Atari's been dead since E.T... And there's no way Atari can survive in a market with Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Activiison, EA, 2K and so on. For that matter, there's also no way Sega can make a Dreamcast 2 and actually survive for 6 months on the market. Just can't...

  • King_Jeremy_77

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 6:12 am GMT

    This is sad news.

  • Whermacht02

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 5:31 am GMT

    This is what happens to a company that is not competitive anymore. I havent heard of any recent Atari games that were good. Its time for Atari to pull their sh*t together or they will bite the dust

  • xcamel24

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 5:08 am GMT

    What no one seems to remember is that this Atari is not the same atari company that made the beloved 2600. It is in fact a company that bought atari, and then changed their own name too atari. Effectively no one from the original atari company has any influence in the company.

    And you all are mostly right, atari is failing and a company that no one will miss. They are not competitive any longer.

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