IDT Corp.

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IDT Corporation

Type	Public NYSE: IDT
Founded	August 1990
Headquarters	Newark, New Jersey
Key people	Howard S. Jonas, Chairman James A. Courter, Vice Chairman and CEO Ira A. Greenstein, President and Director
Industry	Telecommunications, Entertainment, Technology
Revenue	$2.47 billion USD (2005)
Operating income	-$115.8 million USD (2005) -9.71% operating margin
Net income	-$43.81 million USD (2005) -6.89% profit margin
Employees	5,397 (2005)
Website	www.idt.net

IDT Corporation (originally standing for International Discount Telecommunications) is a telecommunications company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. It has recently begun to branch out into other business lines to increase its diversity and lower its risk profile. IDT was founded by entrepreneur Howard Jonas in August of 1990. On January 26, 2006, IDT Telecom, Inc. sold to GVC Networks LLC all its IDT Winstar Solution subsidiaries: Winstar Communications, LLC, Winstar Government Solutions, LLC and Winstar Wireless, LLC.

On February 17, 2006, IDT announced it would reacquire full ownership of Net2Phone, a company it had launched in the mid 1990's.

On May 16, 2006, IDT agreed to sell its IDT Entertainment division to Liberty Media for "for all of Liberty Media's interests in IDT, $186 million in cash and the assumption of existing indebtedness." [1] On August 31st, 2006, the sale of all of IDT Entertainment's US operations and several international operations was completed. "The remainder of the deal, to include the Canadian and Australian operations, is expected to be closed in the next few weeks after regulatory approval has been given."[2] This sale was completed on 29 September 2006. [3]

On October 12, 2006, IDT completed the sale of its Toucan consumer phone business in the UK to Pipex Communications plc. [4]

IDT has large call centers in Jerusalem, Israel, London, England, Guadalajara, Mexico and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

IDT's calling card business's practices have been questioned by some, mainly due to the confusing jargon (connection fee, duration of connection, surcharges and any maintenance charges) on the finely printed Terms of Use. It should be noted, however, that these Terms of Use are printed on the card for the user to read, as well as on the box, wrapping and other marketing materials.

1 PennyTalk
2 Newark Headquarters
3 Corporate Holdings & Operating Units
4 External links

[edit] PennyTalk

IDT inaugurated a service of cheap international calling called PennyTalk. Of note is the odd use of an Australian actress to play a woman from London during the initial PennyTalk commercial campaign.

[edit] Newark Headquarters

25 percent to 40 percent of the 5,000 employees at IDT are Orthodox Jews. Yarmulkes and black hats are a common sight. The company cafeteria is kosher; according to Jonas, it is one of, if not the largest kosher facility outside of Israel. Multiple Jewish prayer services take place in the building throughout the day.

It also hosts two yeshivas. At Yeshiva Bais Tzvi Yaakov: IDT Center for Torah and Business, 39 men ranging in age from 18 to 23 spend mornings studying in the beit midrash and afternoons taking computer or business courses. The Mesivta of North Jersey is a yeshiva high school with approximately 70 boys, who Jonas notes are major consumers of pizza from IDT’s dairy snack bar.[5]

[edit] Corporate Holdings & Operating Units

IDT Telecom, Inc.
- IDT Europe
  - Expercom pre-paid phone card business
- IDT Telecom Asia Pacific Ltd
- Net2Phone, Inc.
- Union Telecard Alliance
- IDT Spectrum Inc. (wireless)
2Go prepaid cards
ettractions
IDT Capital (formerly Menlo Park division)
- IDT Media
  - CTM Brochure Display
  - Liberty Broadcasting
  - Horizon Global Trading
  - 1160 WMET
  - Approach
- IDT Energy [6]