TheCorporateCounsel.net

Thanks to Wilson Sonsini for these comprehensive notes from the recent Northwestern 2006 Securities Law Conference held in San Diego. We have posted them in our “Conference Notes” Practice Area.

Gotta give some love to SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins for citing one of my podcasts in footnote 3 of his speech in San Diego. Thanks!

Nasdaq to Create A New Tier of Listings

Yesterday, Nasdaq unveiled plans to create a third market “with the highest listing standards in the world.” Nasdaq plans to launch its new “Global Select Market” on July 1st with the top companies already listed on the Nasdaq – apparently, over 1,000 Nasdaq companies qualify for the new Global Select tier (and reportedly 250 of the existing NYSE companies wouldn’t qualify). Details of the listing standards were not released – although the press release states: “The continued listing standards will be the same for the Global Select and the Global Markets.”

In addition, the Nasdaq National Market has been renamed the “NASDAQ Global Market” and the Nasdaq Capital Market (the former Nasdaq Small Cap Market) retains its current name.

Understanding Board Extranets

In this podcast, Greg Radner, Executive Vice President of Thomson Financial’s Corporate Executive Services and Product Manager of BoardLink, provides some insight into the latest technologies that facilitate board communications, including:

– What are you seeing companies do in the area of board communications? What are the major trends?
– What concerns do directors have about going online for board communications?
– What is driving directors and companies to look to this type of solution? Are there legal and compliance issues that online services like this can address?