The fortunes of two industry company stocks are headed in different directions. Varsity Group, having successfully morphed from a money-losing dot-com startup to a profitable provider of online bookstores, moved to the NASDAQ national market September 29. The company had been trading on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board market.
The return of Varsity to NASDAQ reflects its transformation from a company that originally sought to sell textbooks directly to students online to a company that now provides online bookstores to schools looking to outsource the bookstore function.
While Varsity's stock is rising, MediaBay appears headed for delisting from NASDAQ. The company confirmed late in September that it had received a letter from NASDAQ saying it faced delisting from the exchange for failing to stay in compliance with listing requirements. MediaBay was specifically cited for failing to have its stock selling at $1 per share by September 22. MediaBay's shares have been selling in the 30 cents to 40 cents range for months. MediaBay has requested a hearing before the NASDAQ qualification board, forestalling the immediate delisting of the company. The company received some help last week to reach the $1 mark when it announced that it had reached an agreement with Microsoft to offer MediaBay's audiobooks to MSN users. MediaBay's stock rose to 75 cents on word of the announcement.
