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Garden.com (Nasdaq: GDEN) was down 3/128 at 5/128 after the e-tailer said it expects its stock to be delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The Austin, Texas-based seller of garden products said it could be off Nasdaq by February 9, 2001, or sooner if shareholders at a meeting January 8th approve a planned liquidation. The company has failed to meet Nasdaq requirements of a minimum bid price of $1 per share and minimum value of $5 million.
In a statement issued after the close of trading Monday, Garden.com said it has "substantially completed" the sale of its inventory, and has received bids from "several third parties" interested in buying its assets. The company is also seeking bids for the sale of some of its technology assets.
Garden.com said in November that it would cease operations, selling its product and technology assets and laying off its 153 employees. The company said Monday that it now has 47 employees, who are in the process of completing customer orders, processing returns and resolving credit-card issues.
Garden.com, founded five years ago, has served the $47 billion home gardening market through its Web site and catalog operations. The company raised US$49.2 million in its initial public offering in September 1999, and saw its shares rise as high as 15 at the end of that year.
In recent months, however, the company began to run out of cash, and sought new sources of funding. When steps to cut costs or find a buyer failed, the company decided to close up shop.
Separately Monday, Garden.com said its 80 percent-owned subsidiary Green
Cheetah, Inc. has completed tests of its FastSQL software for
database-centric e-business systems. The tests showed "significant
improvements" in performance, Garden.com said.
