Monster Worldwide, Inc. has received a notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market about a possible delisting of its shares due to the company’s failure to file its third-quarter earnings report.
In a statement Tuesday, the company said it had “anticipated receipt of this notice” because it has delayed filing the required Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006, as it continues an independent review of its stock-option granting practices.
Monster said it would file its September quarterly report “as soon as practicable.”
The company said on Oct. 25 that it found pricing problems in a “substantial number” of its past option grants, and that as a result it expected to restate its results from 1997 through 2005.
However, Monster said it does not expect the restatements to affect its results for this year.
Monster is one of more than 180 companies conducting internal investigations or subject to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation concerning potential backdating of stock options.
The “backdating” of employee stock options, which may boost profits and lower taxes, refers to options that are issued retroactively to coincide with low points in a company’s share price. The practice isn’t necessarily illegal, but it must be properly recorded to shareholders.
Shares of Monster dropped a penny in after-hours trading to $44.14, after closing up $1.56 or 3.7% to $44.15 on the Nasdaq.