Waldron & Co. to Renew Brokering Shopping.com

Beleaguered Internet retailer Shopping.com Inc. resumed over-the-counter trading Thursday, as federal regulators approved a local brokerage firm’s application to act as a market maker.

Waldron & Co., the Irvine investment banking firm that took Shopping.com public in November, is the only firm to apply to the National Assn. of Securities Dealers to maintain buy and sell prices on the online retailer’s stock, and to stand ready to buy or sell shares at quoted prices.

Shopping.com sold 1.3 million shares at $9 each in its initial public offering last year. The stock hit $32.13 in March before dropping in the face of charges by other brokerage firms that Waldron may have been keeping the price artificially high. On March 24, regulators slapped a two-week halt on trading and launched an investigation into possible stock manipulation.

Waldron staff members have denied all charges.

Though volume has been low throughout the month, the stock did hit a 52-week high on April 16, closing at $34.50 a share in private trades. On Thursday, the stock rose $1 a share to $21 in over-the-counter trading.

Separately, a class-action lawsuit against Shopping.com was filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday. The complaint, which alleges stock manipulation, is the third class-action suit filed against the online retailer.