jules, fyi -- [this guy made the same mistake, evidently; i guess it's a mistake (old purchase? new purchase?] [this was just released -- i didn't contact him]
Time Warner Buys Small Slice of Net2Phone
December 23, 2004
By Ryan Naraine
E Week
eweek.com
Just two weeks after America Online Inc. announced plans for a voice-over-IP rollout in Canada, parent company Time Warner Inc. has acquired a small stake in VOIP pioneer Net2Phone Inc.
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Time Warner snapped up approximately 1.5 million shares of Net2Phone, which amounts to a 3.1 percent stake in the company.
Company officials could not be reached Thursday to discuss the purchase, but it's clear the move is part of an aggressive push by AOL to launch VOIP services in the United States to compete directly with the Baby Bells and private companies such as Vonage Holdings Corp., 8x8, Inc. and VoicePlus Inc.
AOL Canada has already outlined plans to offer an Internet phone package to residents of Toronto this month and to the rest of the country by the end of March. Now, with a slice of Net2Phone in its pocket, it is likely AOL will seek to expand its VOIP plans to the U.S. market.
For Newark, N.J.-based Net2Phone, the Time Warner purchase comes at a crucial time. Net2Phone was once a high flyer in the VOIP market, racking up billion-dollar investments and partnerships with the likes of AT&T Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc., but the dot-com fallout hit the company hard and forced an overhaul of the company's business model.
Net2Phone shifted the focus away from the consumer market and scored deals with cable providers in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean to power add-on VOIP services.
Last month, the company released a Wi-Fi handset for its VoiceLine IP telephony service. Based on SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), the phone complies with both the 802.11b and 802.11g standards for wireless LANs, and advances the growing trend in VOIP mobility.
The company is also in the midst of an ownership shakeup. Earlier this week, Liberty Media Corp. said it would exchange its Net2Phone holdings for shares in IDT Corp., Net2Phone's majority owner. The transaction is valued in the range of $56 million. |
