Quokka in the Rough
Quokka Sports ceases operation and will inevitably file for Chapter 11...
| Quokka Sports, who purchased NBC-run golf website golf.com in 2000, has laid off its staff and is ceasing all operations, according to members of their staff. Comfortably plateaued near their reverse-split-adjusted 500 dollars per share on the Nasdaq in July of 2000, Quokka Sports has been in a steady landslide since early September. The Nasdaq Stock Market halted trading in Quokka (QKKAD) shares Thursday morning and requested additional information from the company. Shares were trading at 23 cents at the time trading was stopped.
Signs of Chapter 11 were imminent at the start of this week. The company manipulated a 1-for-50 reverse stock split in an attempt to inflate the stock's value. Under the reverse stock split investors holding 50 shares were given one in exchange with a higher face value. Attempting that proved unsuccessful for Quokka: they hadn't been able to solve its financial problems or collect on several large outstanding bills from advertisers. The future of golf.com is unknown. Quokka Sports owned 70 percent of the website, and NBC Sports owned the remaining 30 percent. Golf.com stood as one of the "Big Three" in the world of golf websites and had recently become one of the web's most popular golf site. Quokka has progressively fallen: in February, Quokka cut 59 percent of its staff in an attempt to heal its cash burn rate to less than $2 million per month. Quokka's quest was to give its fans total "immersion," by offering such features as in-depth profiles on sporting figures, shopping arcades, games, forums and correspondence with athletes. |
