According to BusinessMedia's email newsletter (join the list by sending a blank email to join-BusinessMedia@titan.sparklist.com ) Penton Media Inc has been notified by the NYSE that it's in danger of being de-listed if it can't yank its stock price up within six months. The company's been hit by the B2B ad sales slump that according to the latest CMR ad revenue study have slashed average trade mag sales by 20.8% in the first half of 2002 vs. first-half 2001 (which itself was no bed of roses).

The only good news is that Penton's Internet ad revenues fell by less than 5%. Even though the Company's Net sales as a whole were a teeny 4.8% slice of the total online/offline rev pie, this success must be awfully pleasant for the Net team there who, like the rest of us, have suffered the slings and arrows of dot-com doom-predictors for the past two years.