| Type | Public (NYSE: IDT) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications, Energy, Technology |
| Founded | August 1990 |
| Headquarters | Newark, New Jersey |
| Key people | Howard S. Jonas, Chairman and CEO James A. Courter, Vice Chairman Ira A. Greenstein, President |
| Revenue | $1.401 billion USD (2010) |
| Operating income | $32.16 million USD (2010) 2.29% operating margin |
| Net income | $20.29 million USD (2010) 1.45% profit margin |
| Employees | 1,200 (2010) |
| Website | www.idt.net |
IDT Corporation (originally standing for International Discount Telecommunications) is a telecommunications and energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.
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IDT was founded by entrepreneur Howard Jonas in August 1990. He founded the company after opening a sales office in Israel, receiving large international phone bills and then discovering a way to lower them.[1]
On January 26, 2006, IDT Telecom, Inc. sold to GVC Networks LLC all its IDT Winstar Solution subsidiaries: Winstar Communications, 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 1990s.
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."[2] On August 31, 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."[3] This sale was completed on 29 September 2006.[4]
On October 12, 2006, IDT completed the sale of its Toucan consumer phone business in the UK to Pipex Communications plc.[5]
On July 1, 2008, IDT sold IDT Global Services located in Jerusalem, Israel to its Israeli CEO, Eli Ninio. The company still operates under the name IDT, as IDT Global Israel.
The IDT Headquarters building on Broad Street in downtown Newark was once home to the now defunct Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company from 1957 to 2000. On 2009 the IDT building was abandoned to be put up for sale and the offices were moved to 550 Broad St. Several floors were rented out and it currently holds all the IDT corporate offices.
IDT commenced a civil anti-fraud lawsuit March 8, 2007 against certain of its competitors in the US pre-paid calling card market. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal district court in Newark, New Jersey, alleges, among other things, that CVT Prepaid Solutions, Inc., Dollar Phone Corporation., Epana Networks, Inc., Locus Telecommunications, Inc., Total Call International, Inc., STi Phonecard, Inc., Find & Focus Abilities, Inc, VOIP Enterprises, Inc., and Telco Group, Inc. are systematically falsely promising minutes that consumers cannot obtain from the cards they have bought. The complaint alleges that the defendants' deceptive practice causes consumers to lose more than one million dollars a day.
The lawsuit further alleges that the defendants' fraudulent conduct in the pre-paid calling card marketplace has negatively impacted IDT's market share, resulting in a reduction in IDT's revenues, and also has caused reductions to net income. The suit seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction barring defendants from continuing in this massive and systemic fraud as well as money damages.[6]
As of June 5, 2007, Epana Networks, Inc, Locus Telecommunications, Inc, and Dollar Phone Corp. have all agreed to settle the lawsuit brought by IDT. All three have agreed to work together to improve practices in the prepaid phone card industry and have agreed to deliver 100% of the minutes promised to consumers.[7]
IDT inaugurated a service of low cost international calling called PennyTalk. Of note is the use of an Australian actress to play a woman from London during the initial PennyTalk commercial campaign.
Union Telecard Alliance is the distribution arm of IDT Telecom, and one of the largest distributors of prepaid phone cards in the United States with over 200 different phone card brands throughout the country.
IDT operates a wireless MVNO, Tuyo Mobile on the T-Mobile network.
IDT is extensively involved in Shael oil projects, especially in Israel. By the end of 2011 IDT through subsidiary IEI (Israel Energy Initiative) to have opened the first experimental programme in Adullam to examine its new system of extracting oil from Kerogen.[8]
Zedge is a mobile content discovery platform and community where users can download content to customize their mobile devices. Zedge was purchased by IDT in December 2006.[13]
Zedge was founded by Kenneth Sundnes, Tom Arnoy, and Paul Shaw in Norway in 2003. Zedge has over 30 million unique visitors per month across web, mobile web, and Android.[14]