Corinthian Colleges to be delisted from Nasdaq next week
Corinthian Colleges Inc., the troubled Santa Ana for-profit college operator, is likely to be delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange by next week, according to company disclosures.
Corinthian, which has been on a downward spiral since the federal government restricted funding last June, has failed to file its last three required financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
To be listed on Nasdaq, public companies must file quarterly earnings reports in a timely manner. Corinthian has received warnings from Nasdaq since last summer, and had until Jan. 30 to correct the problems, according to Wednesday’s disclosure.
Nasdaq told the company that it would be suspended next Tuesday. Corinthian could appeal the ruling by Nasdaq staff, but the company said it has no plans to do so.
Once one of the largest for-profit college corporations in the U.S., Corinthian has been under strict supervision of the U.S. Department of Education since June. At that time, the agency held back federal student aid money amid concerns that Corinthian had been falsifying student job placement numbers.
Since Corinthian receives the vast majority of its revenue from federal student loans and grants, the sanctions put the company in severe financial distress.
Corinthian agreed in July to sell off most of its schools and close others, and has been subject to oversight from the Education Department ever since. Last week the company completed the sale of more than 50 campuses to ECMC Group, a nonprofit student loan servicer.
Because of uncertainty over its future, Corinthian said it has experienced “significant turnover” among its accounting staff.
“The company could not eliminate the delay caused by these constraints and the loss of these personnel without unreasonable effort and expense,” Corinthian said in an SEC filing this week.
The company expects “substantial deterioration” in revenue from a year earlier.
Corinthian still faces numerous lawsuits alleging fraudulent behavior from federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the California attorney general’s office.
