Foxo Technologies Faces Delisting on NYSE
Shares of Minneapolis-based biotech startup Foxo Technologies Inc. began trading on the New York Stock Exchange less than a year ago. Now, the company is already in danger of being removed from the exchange.
On Friday, Foxo disclosed that it has received a notice that it is failing to meet NYSE’s listing rules and could be delisted. In particular, Foxo has run afoul of the exchange’s requirements for companies that have reported losses, according to a June 16 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. NYSE requires that listed companies “have stockholders’ equity of $2 million or more” if they’ve reported losses from continuing operations, or if they’ve had net losses in two of their three most recent fiscal years. In March, Foxo reported stockholders’ deficit of $30,000.
What’s more, the startup has reported multimillion-dollar losses in its 2022 and 2021 fiscal years.
The company won’t be immediately delisted from NYSE, though. If Foxo hopes to keep its listing, it would need to submit an action plan detailing the steps it will take to regain compliance. The startup has until July 12 to submit that plan to NYSE. If that plan is accepted, Foxo will then have a full 18 months to get back into compliance.
“The company intends to consider available options to regain compliance with the stockholders’ equity requirement, but no decisions have been made at this time,” Foxo wrote in the June 16 filing. “There can be no assurance that the company will ultimately regain compliance with all applicable NYSE American listing standards.”
It’s been a turbulent year for Foxo. In September of 2022, the company went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Those entities are essentially shell companies with no assets, and they drew a great deal of interest in 2021.
Two months after going public, though, Foxo fired its founder and CEO Jon Sabes, as well as his brother Steve Sabes, who was serving as COO.
In March, Foxo disclosed that the SEC was investigating the decision to fire the Sabes brothers. The SEC had requested documents pertaining to Foxo’s decision to terminate the two. At the time, the company noted that the investigation “does not mean that the SEC has concluded that anyone violated the law.”
Foxo and the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Founded in 2016, Foxo has developed a saliva test that life insurance companies can use to underwrite policies. The test is designed to give users their “biological age” across four different categories. Foxo’s stated goal has been to “modernize the life insurance industry.”
