Stock Certificates - Going or Gone!

Mergers, bankruptcies and an industry-wide effort to eliminate physical stock certificates make it impossible (or soon to be impossible) to get the stock certificates for these companies. This is great news for those who are lucky enough to have a physical stock certificate because their collectible value just went up but it's sad for those who missed the boat.

The industry-wide effort to eliminate paper stock certificates and move toward electronic ownership is picking up steam which means if you want a physical stock certificate, you better hurry!.

Below are companies that we offer or used to offer that are now gone or soon to be gone forever. See their collectible stock certificates.

GOING
AWAY
buy Burger King stock

Burger King being aquired by3G Capital - stock certificates going away soon.

The Story Behind the Industry-wide Effort to Eliminate Physical Stock Certificates.

Like everything else in this world, the securities industry is going digital in order to increase efficiency and save money. They call it dematerialization - we call it sad.

Some companies have already stopped paper certificates and many others plan to do the same soon. Still others will start charging fees to issue a paper certificate in order to discourage it. Industry observers think that paper certificates will largely be eliminated sometime in 2010. What does this all mean? It means that if you want a paper stock certificate, you better hurry!

Below is the chronology (most current on top) of the major milestones to eliminate stock certificates:

2006 - Delaware, the state where many companies were incorporated, changed it's state law removing the requirement for physical stock certificates. This got the ball rolling.
Last year, stock brokers began charging anywhere from $40 to $200 just to issue a physical stock certificate in order to discourage paper.
Companies were required to be capable of electronic registration by 1/1/2008.
Beginning on 1/1/2009 stock brokers cannot issue stock certificates on most companies. We can still get them because we work directly with transfer agents but at some point, even this will come to an end.