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Vivendi Delisted From U.S. Stock Markets
Despite the success of subsidiary Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Vivendi Universal has delisted itself from U.S. stockmarkets in an effort to cut costs. 1up reports: "Just because they're moving off the American stock market, however, doesn't mean Vivendi Universal won't seek, rely on or utilize US investors. 'Vivendi Universal intends to maintain and develop its business operations in the US, but wishes to reduce financial costs,' says the company's statement."
Sarbanes-Oxley would be the most likely reason for a company to do something like this, probably so that they don't have to pay for the audits. Of course, the whole reason beyond the Act was to make companies accountable to their shareholders and to the public in general, so if you invest in VU, you should (as the previous posters have said) be aware that you have one less safety net available.
Investing in something on the pink sheets (unlisted stocks) is so risky that even hucksters like Jim Cramer recommend against it.
IANAL, but 'not listed on a public exchange' != 'not being a publically traded stock'. They aren't closely held, so they still come under the same disclosure and reporting requirement as well as supervision by the SEC. A stock exchange provides a place to trade stocks - and a level of supervision above and beyond that of the SEC, but it does not replace the SEC.
There's no legal requirement that you list your stock on one of the big exchanges - but there is a practical one, most brokers won't touch a stock not so listed, or charge an additional fee to do so, as the trade must take place outside of the exchanges network which the broker is connected to. (In theory there is no reason why you cannot open your own exchange.)
The single biggest issue with foreign investment is currency. I'm an Australian. If I buy shares that are listed on an Australian stock exchange (we have several; the Australian Stock Exchange, aka ASX, is just the main one), I need to settle the transaction in Australian dollars, drawn upon an Australian bank.
If I wish to buy shares on (for example) a US stock exchange, on the other hand, I need to settle the transaction in US dollars, likely drawn upon a US bank. Yes, I can buy a US dollar cheque in Australia and send it off, but there are time restrictions on how long I have to get the cleared money to the broker which complicate things.
So that takes care of buying the shares. As for selling, it's much the same story. But there's the added fillip: when deciding whether or not you've made a loss or profit on the stock, you have to take into account the currency movements. For example: if I buy $US1,000 in shares when $US1.00 = $AU0.50, and then sell those same shares for $US1,500 when $US1.00 = $AU0.80, I paid $AU2,000 for the shares, and sold them for $AU1,875. In the context of the US market, I made a profit, but in the context of Australian currency, I made a net loss. It can also work the other way around, of course.
In short: when you're doing foreign investment, there are at least two levels involved that make the investment riskier (and note that I use the word "risk" in the financial sense, meaning uncertain, not dangerous per se). Unless you have serious money to invest, it's not worth the hassles, IMO.