O.C. BUSINESS PLUS : ORANGE COUNTY BRIEFLY : Web Auction Venture Sees Stock Fall Again
2TheMart.com shares fell 9% Monday, the stock’s second consecutive drop, after the Irvine company said it must raise more cash to complete its already-delayed Internet auction site.
The stock closed Monday at $6.66, down 66 cents a share, after dropping as low as $4.97 earlier in the session. The shares fell 36% Friday after the company said in a regulatory filing that it had $2.1 million of cash remaining on June 30 and still owed International Business Machines Corp. $7.8 million of the $10.3 million cost of developing its Web site.
In the filing, the company’s outside auditor warned there’s “substantial doubt” of its ability to continue as a going concern.
The company, created eight months ago to compete with online auction leader eBay.com, said on Jan. 13 its site was in “final development” and would open in the second quarter. That sent its shares soaring from $2 to $50 in a week, giving it a market value of $1 billion.
