California mortgage tech firm Blend Labs is at risk of getting delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as a consequence of the company’s stock price slumping below $1 for more than a month.
Blend announced on Thursday that it received notice on April 28 from the NYSE that it was not in compliance with the stock exchange’s bylaws, which state that a company could be de-listed if its common stock traded below $1.00 for more than 30 trading days.
Blend has a six-month cure period to comply with the minimum share price requirements. As of market close on Thursday, it was trading at $0.58 a share.
Blend has a chance of meeting compliance if the stock has a closing price of at least $1.00 on the last trading day of calendar month during the six-month cure period, and an average closing share price of at least $1 over the 30 trading-day period ending on the last trading day of that month.
A spokesperson for the company said they are working with the NYSE and are “confident” in their ability to comply with the requirements.
Blend plans to notify NYSE of its intent to cure the deficiency, which may include initiating a reverse stock split, subject to approval by the board of directors and stockholders of the company, according to its 8-K filings.
The spokesperson said that Blend will share a formal update on how it plans to comply with the minimum share price requirements during its Q1 earnings call, which is scheduled for May 9.
“We are focused, we have a sense of urgency, and we are making meaningful progress as we execute against our strategy (…) We will share details about our business momentum and progress on our path to profitability then,” the spokesperson added.
The California mortgage tech firm — now at risk of getting delisted from the NYSE — was off to a promising start when it went public in July 2021.
Blend sold 20 million shares of Class A stock at $19 apiece, raising $360 million. With shares closing at $20.90, Blend had a valuation of around $4.6 billion.
Blend brought on hundreds of clients — including Wells Fargo, First Republic Bank, Mr. Cooper and U.S. Bank. — that ultimately powered about a quarter of mortgages originated during the pandemic years.
To survive the cyclical mortgage business, Blend has been striving to transform its mortgage business-dependent business model to a platform company.
Since 2019, the mortgage tech firm has been expanding into the consumer lending space, but with the Federal Reserve‘s unprecedented series of interest rate hikes, Blend wasn’t immune to financial losses.
In 2022, the firm posted a staggering loss of $796 million and operating expenses in 2022 jumped to $835.8 million from $313.2 million in 2021.
