What types of companies are quoted on Pink Sheets?
There are a wide variety of companies quoted on Pink Sheets. There are small companies that cannot or do not wish to meet the listing requirements of the exchanges; there are many large foreign issuers that are listed on an exchange in their home country but traded OTC in the US market (often because their financial statements are not prepared according to GAAP, which is a requirement for US listing); many Pink Sheets companies were formerly listed on an exchange and fell below the required standards for listing; due to the increased compliance costs associated with the Sarbanes/Oxley legislation, some listed companies have voluntarily delisted from exchanges and chosen to be traded over-the-counter; and there are a number of banks and other issuers that are thinly traded and so choose not to go to the expense of listing on an exchange.
