Net2phone provides

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Interne ...

and

cloud computing Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over m ...

-based

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...

products and services. The company is a subsidiary of

IDT Corporation IDT Corporation (originally standing for International Discount Telecommunications) is a multinational provider of cloud communications, point of sale systems, unified communications, and financial services for businesses and consumers, headquar ...

History

Net2Phone was founded in 1990. On July 30, 1999, during the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Comp ...

, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( l ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

, raising $81 million. Shares rose 77% on the first day of trading to $26 per share. After completion of the IPO, IDT owned 57% of the company. Within a few weeks, the shares increased another 100% in value, to $53 per share. In March 2000, in a transaction facilitated by IDT CEO Howard Jonas, a consortium of telecommunications companies led by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

announced a $1.4 billion investment for a 32% stake in the company, buying shares for $75 each. The transaction was completed in August 2000.

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

had expressed an interest in buying all or part of the company but was not agreeable to the price. In 2000, the company acquired Aplio, an

internet appliance An Internet appliance is a consumer device whose main function is easy access to Internet services such as WWW or e-mail. The term was popularized in the 1990s, when it somewhat overlapped in meaning with an information appliance, Internet compu ...

maker located in

San Bruno, California San Bruno (Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to ...

. In August 2000, Jonathan Fram, president of the company, left the company to join

eVoice eVoice is a telecommunications service owned by j2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:JCOM). The company manages incoming and outgoing calls using virtual phone numbers. The service was initially founded by Wendell Brown, Mark Klein, and Craig Taro Gold in ...

. In September 2000, the company formed Adir Technologies, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...

. In March 2002, the company sued Cisco for breach of contract. In 2001, the company acquired iPing. In February 2002, the company announced 110 layoffs, or 28% of its workforce. In October 2004, Liore Alroy became chief executive officer of the company. On March 13, 2006,

acquired the shares of the company that it did not already own for $2.05 per share. In January 2017, the company acquired LiveNinja.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Net2phone Communications in New Jersey Telecommunications companies established in 1990 Companies based in Newark, New Jersey Dot-com bubble Instant messaging VoIP software Windows instant messaging clients 2000 mergers and acquisitions 2001 mergers and acquisitions 2017 mergers and acquisitions