Ants Software Falls 34% After Below-Market Sale

Ants Software.com stock fell 34% after the 20-year-old software developer said that it sold stock valued at $4.8 million over the last two months at below-market prices. Ants fell $7.13 to close at $14 in trading volume 24 times the daily average for the stock. The shares, which fell as low as $5.50 in early trading, were as high as $55.63 last week. On Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported that Santa Barbara-based Ants sold about 500,000 shares of restricted stock at an average price of $9.60 each, or about half the market price of the company’s stock on the day of each sale. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 13, the company repeated the “substantial doubt” expressed by its outside auditor in July about its ability to continue as a going concern.” On Tuesday, it said it now has enough cash to stay in business into 2001. It is not related to another Santa Barbara-based company with a similar name, Software.com.