Atari receives NASDAQ delisting notice

Publisher Atari has been issued with a delisting notice by the NASDAQ stock exchange, warning the firm that it has until August 17th to bring itself back in line with rules governing the composition of its audit committee.

Under NASDAQ's rules, a company must have three independent directors, one of whom is a financial expert, on its audit committee - but after significant reshuffling earlier this year, Atari currently only has two.

This situation has come about after the resignation of independent director Thomas Mitchell from the committee; earlier in the year, David Ward was appointed in order to replace outgoing CEO James Caparro.

Atari has said that it will submit a compliance plan to the NASDAQ by the deadline, and according to Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, it's unlikely that the matter will have any serious impact on the company.

"We believe that Atari will be able to get back in compliance by the required deadline," he commented today, "and do not believe that its stock will be delisted."