Verb Technology plunges 50% on pricing stock offering

Briacell Therapeutics

24/01/2023 19:08

(Updates with pricing details, additional context)
    ** Shares of software-as-a-service firm Verb Technology
Company Inc  VERB.O  fall 50.2% to as low as $0.19 on Tues after
equity raise
    ** Co sells about 36.1 mln shares at $0.20, ~48% discount to
stock's Mon close, for ~$7.2 mln gross raise
    ** Co intends to use net proceeds for general purposes and
debt repayment
    ** Stock closed up ~70% on Mon at its highest level in three
months, as company announced a probe into alleged illegal short
selling of its stock, with other suspected trading violations
    ** The $45.1 mln Verb Tech is among other small-cap
companies that have announced such a probe, including on naked
short selling in recent days 
    ** Others include ed-tech firm Genius Group  GNS.A ,
e-scooters maker Helbiz  HLBZ.O  and Canada's
agriculture-focused tech co AgriFORCE Growing Systems  AGRI.O 
    ** Short sellers sell borrowed shares in a bet to buy them
back at lower price; naked short-selling involves selling shares
without first borrowing them
    ** Roughly 42 mln VERB shares have traded so far on Tues,
while over 145 mln shares exchanged hands on Mon. That compares
to VERB's 50-DMA volume of nearly 5 mln shares, per Refinitiv
    ** VERB shares fell 87% last year
 (Reporting by Medha Singh and Lance Tupper)
 ((medha.singh@thomsonreuters.com))