Firms that quit the stock market actually become more profitable after they delist.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
Is there Life after Delisting? 
SSRN · 6472242
The Takeaway
While we usually assume being a public company is the ultimate sign of corporate health and efficiency, this study of European firms shows that the high costs of compliance and auditing often outweigh the benefits. For many small-to-mid-sized companies, leaving the stock market leads to immediate improvements in profitability without any loss in scale.
From the abstract
We study the consequences of voluntary delisting using a hand-collected sample of European firms. Delisting is followed by improvements in profitability with no changes to firms' scale or leverage. These improvements are stronger for smaller firms and firms with higher audit fees, supporting the idea that the costs of being listed can be substantial. Our results do not seem to be driven by restructurings, expropriation of minority shareholders and/or myopic behavior. By shifting the focus from m