Can our companys stock trade on the Internet alone, instead of on an exchange?
For most people, public stock trading means trading through an exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. In order to trade on an exchange, a company must meet minimum capitalization and other requirements, and agree to various corporate governance provisions. Some companies may wish to avoid the costs of trading on an exchange by trading directly on the Internet. Even before the Internet, the SEC did not require companies to trade on exchanges. More recently, the SEC has given qualified approval to Spring Street Brewing to operate an Internet trading mechanism called “Wit-Trade.” Wit-Trade is the only system on which Spring Street Brewing shares will be traded in the secondary market. According to a recent press release, Wit-Trade expects the system to be given final approval upon implementation of four steps suggested by the SEC to potential investors: the company will use an independent agent to receive checks from purchasers of the securities; the company will publish
