Where Should A Company Get Listed?


There are different methods to go public in the US. There are actually three major levels of listing:

Here are the levels of stock listing.

OTC PINK SHEETS:

The oldest quotation service for over the counter stocks usually called "the pinks". There are technically no particulars needed for reports or audited financials on the pinks, though, the pinks have established their own voluntary reporting system and implement it by publishing symbols to denote the level of disclosure each company is subscribing to. To publish voluntary information requires fees of around $5000 a year.

THE OTC BB: The OTC Bulletin Board is managed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and mandates that all companies whose equity is exchanged on the OTC Bulletin Board manage their current reporting status with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which requires current audited financial statements. There are no fees paid to FINRA for this quotation, but keeping a public company current with its SEC reports could cost $25,000 - $50,000 a year.

EXCHANGES:

The OTC PINK SHEETS and the OTC Bulletin Board are useful stock markets particularly for emerging and new companies, but clients with flourishing businesses will prefer to be on one of the developed and higher stock markets - Nasdaq Small-Cap, Nasdaq NMS or NYSE. Each of these stock exchanges has its own qualifications that a firm must meet to be listed on the exchange. Usually the types of qualification variables they look for include asset levels, number of shareholders, required Board level committees, revenues, and market capitalization. In addition all exchanges mandate the company to keep a current reporting status with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Listing on the exchanges usually involves expenses in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For a US company a quotation on the US stock markets strengthen points. For Example, a quotation is a method to:

1) Grow your company faster and make it more strong by increasing your ability to attract "mergers", "acquisitions" as well as "strategic partners;

2) Expand your company faster and make it more powerful by developing its ability to compete for large corporate opportunities;

3) Maximize your personal profit as an owner by minimizing the amount of time it takes to make money on your investment, and also increasing the value of your company, as well as, adjusting the liquidity of your asset to a much more liquid form than that of a private business;

4)Raise money quicker and cheaper by improving the "liquidity" factor for your shareholders

Now most of these factors are for companies going public from scratch. For those of you seeking to buy a shell corporation (public shell), to do mergers, then you might want to decide changing a quotation as stated above. For more tips on this subject try googling phrases like "mergers companies" or "reverse mergers".