AOL,GE,Softbank in Net2Phone
IPO IDT lists industry heavies as principal
stockholders
By Steve Gelsi, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 8:29 PM ET May 18, 1999
NewsWatch
HACKENSACK, N.J.(CBS.MW) -- America Online, GE
Capital and Softbank are among the principal stockholders in
a $50 million IPO filed late Tuesday by IDT Corp. for its
Net2Phone Internet telephony unit.
The listed underwriters are Hambrecht & Quist, BT Alex.
Brown and Bear Stearns.
IDT (IDTC: news, msgs) will own 66.2
percent of Net2Phone or 27.6 million
shares; Softbank will be the second largest
stockholder with 10.8 percent or 4.6
million shares.
Net2Phone Chairman and President
Clifford Sobel will own 8 percent or 3.3
million shares. America Online (AOL:
news, msgs) and GE Capital will each
own 5.4 percent or 2.3 million shares.
The percentages are based on 41.7 million
shares including 4.7 million shares of common stock, 27.6
million shares of Class A stock and 9.4 million shares of
Class A common stock issueable upon conversion of the
Series A preferred stock at the same date.
America Online, Softbank , and GE Capital spokespersons
did not return phone calls. An IDT official declined to
comment.
Shares of IDT Corp. fell 15/16 to 27 1/4
on Tuesday.
The Net2Phone IPO has been anticipated
for months. On April 9, shares of IDT
jumped 29.4 percent after
CBS.MarketWatch.com reported that
Softbank was in talks to invest in
Net2Phone. See related story.
Softbank, whose shares trade in Tokyo
under the symbol "SFTBF," owns about
28 percent of Yahoo (YHOO: news,
msgs). Gary Rieschel, executive
managing director of Softbank
Technology Ventures, is expected to
become a director of the Net2Phone
before the consummation of the offering,
according to the company's filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Net2Phone touts long distance phone
service that's cheaper than traditional
calling. International calls are typically
50- to 70 percent cheaper, the company said.
GE Capital is a unit of General Electric, which moved May
10 to form NBC Internet in a three-way merger with
Xoom.com (XMCM: news, msgs), NBC unit and CNet's
(CNET: news, msgs) Snap.com. See related story.
Net2Phone
Net2Phone already has contracts with America Online unit
Netscape, ZDNet (ZD: news, msgs) Yahoo, Excite [xcit],
and InfoSpace.com.
Net2Phone served about 250,000 active customers and is
handling more than 20 million minutes of use per month as
of March 31, the company said in the filing.
Revenue for the six months of fiscal 1999 was $13.2
million, up from $12 million in all of fiscal 1998. The
company had 174 full-time employees as of May 12.
International Data Corp. projects an Internet telephony
market of $23.4 billion by 2003.
Marketing plans
The company said it'll embed its software in future versions
of Netscape's Internet browser. A Net2Phone icon will be
"prominently positioned" next to AOL's Instant Messenger
icon on the Netscape Navigator Tool Bar.
"We intend to build upon these relationships and enter into
new distribution relationships with other leading companies
in order to enhance the distribution of our software
worldwide," the company said.
It's also launching a new product called PC2PC, which will
provide high-quality Internet telephony from one personal
computer to another.
It'll allow two participants in an online chat room discussion
to establish direct voice communication with each other
while maintaining anonymity. |
