Konami Voluntary Delists Itself From New York Stock Exchange
After confirming the cancellation of Silent Hills this morning, Konami has delisted itself from the New York Stock Exchange.
As of April 24, Konami is no longer on the NYSE, as the company has publicly announced its delisting, noting that a little under 0.3% of the company's stock was traded outside of Japan and London throughout 2014. Konami removed it from the New York Stock Exchange in order to shave off the millions of dollars in compliance costs needed to keep the company on the NYSE. We should note that this does not mean that Konami is closing, but we wouldn't be surprised if a major company tries to buy them out over the next few years.
Here's what the company said in its delisting announcement:
After the delisting of its ADSs from the NYSE, the Company maintains its American Depository Receipt Program in the U.S., and therefore its ADSs continue to be traded in the U.S. on the over-the-counter market. While the Company’s reporting obligations under the Exchange Act (including the obligation to file annual reports on Form 20-F) will be terminated, the Company will continue to disclose financial statements and other information, in English, on its website to ensure that its overseas shareholders and investors will continue to have appropriate information about the Company.
At first glance, the cancellation of Silent Hills, the likely departure of Hideo Kojima after the launch of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and the lukewarm reception of the past four Castlevania games are making things look pretty bleak for Konami. Since August 2014, shares have dropped steadily for the company. In May 2014, it was revealed that Konami had over a 37 percent drop in its video game sales from the year before. With Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes being its only noteworthy releases of the past two years, we really hope that The Phantom Pain can pull Konami out of this rut, but the dissolving of Kojima Productions and Kojima's departure has us fearing the worst for the company in the long run. Konami is sitting on a ton of noteworthy IPs, and it shouldn't have to rely on a guy named Snake to pull it out of the fire every few years, especially with Kojima headed for the door.