YRC Worldwide stockholders OK reverse stock split

user-gravatar Headshot

YRC Worldwide Inc. on Wednesday, Nov. 30, announced that stockholders authorized the company’s board of directors to effect a reverse stock split of the company’s common stock and to proportionately reduce the number of authorized shares of common stock with the ratio and timing of implementation of the reverse stock split at the discretion of the board.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based company plans to amend its certificate of incorporation on Thursday, Dec. 1, to implement a reverse stock split effective on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday, Dec. 2 , at which time the company’s ticker symbol will temporarily change from “YRCW” to “YRCWD” in accordance with Nasdaq rules. The ticker symbol will revert back to “YRCW” on Jan. 3, 2012.

The reverse stock split will reduce the number of authorized common shares to about 33.3 million from the current 10 billion and reduce the number of outstanding common shares to about 6.8 million from the current about 2 billion.

“The reverse stock split is an important step in bringing the company into compliance with Nasdaq listing rules and enhances our position as a publicly held company,” said James Welch, chief executive officer of YRC Worldwide. “Now we can focus our attention on serving our customers and providing them with exceptional service.”

At the meeting, security holders also approved the election of seven members of the board; compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers and a proposal to provide stockholders with an advisory vote on named executives’ compensation every year; and the ratification of the appointment of KPMG as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm.