RadioShack On The Brick – Pulled From the NYSE

If you own or have owned any shares of RadioShack (RSH) you are well aware that the shares have lost 90% of their value in the last 12 months. Things got worse for RadioShack on Monday when the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading of RadioShack shares. The halt was due to RadioShack not having a high enough market value to be listed on the exchange! The NYSE has a $50 million minimum on the market capitalization and a company must carry at least that amount for 30 straight days. RadioShack can’t meet that standard right now. RadioShack’s stock peaked in December 1999 with the tech boom at nearly $77 a share and a market cap of ~$15 billion. The NYSE mentioned that RadioShack “does not intend to submit a business plan” to the exchange to address how it could raise its market value. Many expect that RadioShack it will hit zero, following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Amazon is also reportedly in discussion with RadioShack to buy some of the company’s brick-and-mortar stores to better compete with Apple. There is also rumors that it would sell some of the locations to Sprint.

You can take a look at the spectacular rise and fall of the Fort Worth based company’s stock price above. RadioShack opened its first store in downtown Boston in 1921 and carried things like ham radios, police scanners, electronics kits, phones, and computers. Many of our older readers will fondly remember RadioShack’s Tandy line of computers. RadioShack after-all is the company that introduced the first mass-marketed, fully assembled personal computer, the TRS-80, with a Level II BASIC operating system created by no other than Bill Gates himself! It’s sad to see a company that has been around for 94 years in a position like there.