Company: XXII
Filing Date: 2025-05-22
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001641172-25-012101
Chunk: 52

Company: 22nd Century Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-05-22
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 52
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 of our common stock to the investment community.

As of May 16, 2025, the last reported closing price of our common stock was $1.08. A delisting of our common stock may materially and adversely affect a holder’s ability to dispose of, or to obtain accurate quotations as to the market value, of, our common stock. In addition, any delisting may cause our common stock to be subject to “penny stock” regulations promulgated by the SEC. Under such regulations, broker-dealers are required to, among other things, comply with disclosure and special suitability determinations prior to the sale of shares of common stock. If our common stock becomes subject to these regulations, the market price of our common stock and the liquidity thereof could be materially and adversely affected. Reducing the number of outstanding shares of our common stock should, absent other factors, increase the per share market price of our common stock, although we cannot provide any assurance that our minimum bid price would remain above the minimum bid price requirement of Nasdaq, or that this theoretical increase would indeed occur. Accordingly, we believe that approval of the amendment to our Articles of Incorporation to effect the Reverse Split in the Board’s discretion is in the Company’s and our stockholders’ best interests.

We also believe that the Reverse Split could enhance the appeal of our common stock to the financial community, including institutional investors, and the general investing public. We believe that a number of institutional investors and investment funds are reluctant to invest in lower-priced securities and that brokerage firms may be reluctant to recommend lower-priced stock to their clients, which may be due in part to a perception that lower-priced securities are less promising as investments, are less liquid in the event that an investor wishes to sell its shares, or are less likely to be followed by institutional securities research firms and therefore to have less third-party analysis of the Company available to investors. In addition, certain institutional investors or investment funds may be prohibited from buying stocks whose price is below a certain threshold. We believe that the reduction in the number of issued and outstanding shares of common stock caused by the Reverse Split, together with the anticipated increased stock price immediately following and resulting from the Reverse Split, may encourage interest and trading in our common stock and thus possibly promote greater liquidity for our stockholders, thereby resulting in a broader market for the common stock than that which currently exists.

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Reducing the number of outstanding shares of our common stock through the Reverse Split is intended, absent other factors, to theoretically increase the per