This doesn't sound like glass half-full stuff..

How Does It Affect You?
As a shareholder, you should seriously revisit your investment decision in a company that has become delisted; in many cases, it may be better to cut your losses. A firm unable to meet the listing requirements of the exchange upon which it is traded is quite obviously not in a great position. Each case of delisting needs to be looked at on an individual basis. However, being kicked out of an exclusive club such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq is about as disgraceful for a company as it is prestigious for it to be listed in the first place.

Even if a company continues to operate successfully after being delisted, the main problem with getting booted from the exclusive club is the trust factor. People lose their faith in the stock. When a stock trades on the NYSE or Nasdaq, it has an aura of reliability and accuracy in reporting financial statements. When a company's stock is demoted to the OTCBB or pink sheets, it loses its reputation. Pink sheet and OTCBB stocks lack the stringent regulation requirements that investors come to expect from NYSE and Nasdaq-traded stocks. Investors are willing to pay a premium for shares of trustworthy companies and are (understandably) leery of firms with shady reputations.

Another problem for delisted stocks is that many institutional investors are restricted from researching and buying them. Investors who already own a stock prior to the delisting may be forced by their investment mandates to liquidate their positions, further depressing the company's share price by increasing the selling supply. This lack of coverage and buying pressure means the stock has an even steeper climb ahead to make it back on to a major exchange. (See, What happens to my shares of a company that just received a delisting notice?)

The Bottom Line
Some argue that delisting is too harsh because it punishes stocks that could still recover. However, allowing such companies to stay listed would result in the major exchanges simply diluting the caliber of the companies that trade on them and degrading the respectability of the companies that maintain the listing requirements. Therefore, if a company that you own is delisted, it may not spell inevitable doom, but it is certainly a black mark on that company's reputation and, if the company can't recover, a sign of diminishing returns down the road.