Super Micro hires new auditor to maintain Nasdaq listing; shares pop

Controversial server maker Super microcomputer said Monday it has hired BDO as its new auditor and submitted a plan to Nasdaq detailing efforts to return to compliance. Shares rose 23% in extended trading.

“This is an important next step in bringing our financial statements current, an effort we are pursuing with both dedication and urgency,” Super Micro CEO Charles Liang said in a statement.

Super Micro is late in filing its 2024 final report with the SEC and said earlier this month it was looking for a new auditor after its previous auditor, Ernst & Young, resigned in October. Ernst & Young was new to the role, having replaced Deloitte & Touche as Super Micro’s accounting firm in March 2023.

Super Micro told Nasdaq it believes it will be able to file its annual report for the year ended June 30 and its quarterly report for the period ended September 30. The company said it will remain listed on the Nasdaq pending the IPO. review of the compliance plan.”

Super Micro’s shares rose more than twentyfold over a two-year period from early 2022 to their peak in March this year. But the stock has been battered by troubling news about Nasdaq compliance. Once valued at about $70 billion, the company’s market cap was $12.6 billion at close Monday, after rallying 16% in regular trading.

Super Micro is one of the main beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom, due to its relationship with Nvidia. Last fiscal year’s revenue more than doubled to $15 billion.

On Monday, Super Micro announced it will start selling products with Nvidia’s next-generation AI chip, called Blackwell. The company competes with suppliers such as Dell And Hewlett Packard Enterprise in packaging Nvidia AI chips so that other companies can access them.

Super Micro was added to the S&P 500 in March, reflecting its rapidly growing business and then soaring share price. Less than two weeks after the index changes were announced, Super Micro reached its closing high of $118.81.

The problems started within months. In August, Super Micro said it would not file its annual report with the SEC on time. Well-known short seller Hindenburg Research subsequently disclosed a short position in the company, saying in a report that it had found “new evidence of accounting manipulation.” The Wall Street Journal later reported that the Justice Department was in the early stages of an investigation into the company.

The month after announcing the delay in the report, Super Micro said it had received a notification from the Nasdaq indicating that the delay in filing its annual report meant the company did not comply with the exchange’s listing rules. Super Micro said Nasdaq rules gave the company 60 days to file its report or submit a plan to return to compliance. Based on that time frame, the deadline was Monday.

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