Pioneering Web publisher faces Nasdaq delisting

Salon Media Group, publisher of the Salon.com Web magazine and owners of the pioneering online community The WELL, is appealing a Nasdaq decision to delist the company's stock.

Salon, which is one of the longest-running publications on the Net, said on Saturday that its stock was in danger of delisting because it had fallen below the minimum level Nasdaq requires to keep a listing. On Monday before market open, Salon (SALN) was trading at just 28 cents, down 5 cents from its close on Thursday.

The company said an appeal hearing will be set by Nasdaq and the stock will continue trading pending a decision by the Nasdaq Qualifications Panel. Salon is seeking stockholder approval for a reverse stock split to take the stock price over Nasdaq's minimum.

Salon.com was created in 1995, but The WELL, originally The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, dates from 1985 -- when the original Apple Macintosh was brand new and colour monitors were virtually unknown.

Online-only companies, and particularly publishers of content, have had a difficult time since the US economy began to slow, since they rely on advertising for revenues. Automatic Media, which published the two longest-running Web publications, Suck.com and Feed, shuttered its operations last week and most publishers have held massive layoffs.

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