Thomas Fasel Law Firm Explains Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

Once Chapter 11 is filed, the company may "emerge" from bankruptcy within a few months or within several years, depending on the size and complexity of the bankruptcy. All debtors filing Chapter 11 cases are required to propose a plan of reorganization: if the debtor fails to make a proposal, the court may consider proposals from creditors. If no plan of reorganization is approved by the court (this process is called confirmation) then the court may either convert the case to a liquidation under Chapter 7 or, if in the best interests of the creditors and the estate, the case may be dismissed resulting into a return to the status quo ante bankruptcy.

If the company's stock is publicly traded, a Chapter 11 filing causes trading on it to be transferred to the NASDAQ if primary trading on it had been previously conducted at either the New York Stock Exchange or the American Stock Exchange, and the identifying letter "Q" is added to the end of its stock symbol, which is also lengthened to four letters, not including the "Q," if such a transfer is necessary (formerly, the site at which such a stock was traded was not moved and the "Q" was placed in front of the pre-existing stock symbol; a celebrated example was Penn Central, whose symbol was originally "PC" and became "QPC" after the company filed Chapter 11 in 1970).