Alan, It surely sounded like a commercial. Well they've made their aquisition:
Friday December 19, 2:31 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Tel-Save Holdings, Inc.
Tel-Save 9c a Minute Test a Huge Success (AOL Keyword: LD); Merger Transactions Also Announced
NEW HOPE, Pa., Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Tel-Save Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TALK - news). In what is likely to be the most successful day in the history of E-commerce to date, Tel-Save announced that its 24-hour online marketing test to America Online's entire customer base will generate approximately 27,000 new lines for its long distance service. Separately, Tel-Save has also announced merger transactions with Symetrics Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYMT - news) and privately held Compco, Inc. with combined valuations of approximately $47 million.
AOL Online Marketing Trial: Huge Success
With results tallied early this morning from 24 hours of online marketing to AOL's approximately 9 million domestic members, Tel-Save deemed its online test a huge success. As the final phase of online testing prior to the off-line media blitz upcoming in January, AOL sent a pop-up advertisement to its entire base at 6:30 a.m. yesterday and used banner ads and a position in the welcome area to attract customers to its 9c a minute revolutionary long distance service offering. AOL members went to the sign-up area by clicking on the ad or entering keyword: LD. Preliminary results suggest that the surge of AOL customer demand was driven by the value of the offer and the convenience and ability to view records of calls made within minutes. Throughout the day, the AOL Long Distance website had over 500,000 hits as AOL members checked sample bills, reviewed pricing, and signed up for service. The Company expects the offer to build momentum with repeated online advertising, mass media in the form of print and radio advertising, direct mail and word of mouth among AOL members. Additionally, the service offering will be featured on the tool bar (member perk) in AOL's new version 4.0, code-named Casablanca, and promotional offers such as million dollar give aways, prepaid calling cards bundled with the new software will be used to attract AOL members. All AOL members can easily access the long distance members area by entering keyword: LD.
Tel-Save Chairman and CEO Dan Borislow stated, ''This test clearly demonstrates the strength and marketing power of the AOL advertising medium. What we've produced in a 24-hour period online with AOL is equal to the production of 6,000 direct sales, support and management personnel in our industry... but health insurance costs are a lot less for computers. Our offer at keyword: LD was successful despite the holiday shopping season, Thursday night Christmas parties, and feedback suggesting that people didn't think the offer was for real because of the incredible value. Over time as we work with AOL, clearly a great online marketing company, and watch their partners like CUC/HFS, which is one of the three best marketing companies in business, we will benefit from our collective experience. We are breaking new ground with the strongest marketing minds and best media available.''
Borislow continued ''I feel like I'm at an award ceremony and owe thanks to AOL which has been a great partner and has given us everything we have asked for to date. We hope to assist AOL in adding new subscribers and retaining the ones they have with what I believe will be the longest lasting, most successful long distance offer ever, exclusively on AOL. Bob Pittman, a marketing genius, and Barry Schuler a/k/a Mr. Navigation (who has told us what to ask for) are both world class professionals. Joel Pulliam has also done a bang-up job as our project coordinator. It's obvious that AOL is the clear victor in the online/ISP war and we were fortunate enough to pick our contestant early on. Tel-Save was the first company to do a large commerce deal with AOL that included an up-front payment thanks to AOL's creative deal maker David Colburn and our decision has been validated by CUC and other commerce partners. I am very proud and would guess that in January when we really have it going, we will have a 40,000-50,000 line day or two.''
Symetrics And Compco Mergers
Tel-Save also announced that it has entered into two merger agreements. Yesterday, Tel-Save signed a definitive merger agreement with Symetrics Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYMT - news), a Melbourne, Florida-based company which manufactures the most advanced switch for the provision of unbundled local loops in the industry, in a cash transaction with a value of approximately $33 million or $15 per Symetrics share. Symetrics is also engaged in non- telecom related business lines including its contracting business for the Department of Defense. Borislow stated ''we are weighing our options on the strategic alternatives for these non-core assets'', then quipped ... ''in the future, we will know how to take care of our competitors using military products we manufacture ourselves.'' The Symetric's Centura 2000 switch houses features that no one else in the industry offers with the possible exception of Lucent Technologies (except that Tel-Save's costs will be significantly less than what Lucent charges). We intend on being one of the largest users ourselves along with existing customers such as GTE and Sprint Corp [NYSE:FON - news]. The switching equipment business was previously owned by a consortium of 26 smaller independent telcos that invested over 20 years of time and tens of millions of dollars in software and hardware development. Borislow continued ''The remote subscriber switch (''RSS''), an analog to digital local loop concentrator, has the same interface as the host switch which reduces costs, improves reliability and enhances manufacturing efficiencies. Also, the future development of the RSS will contain many switch features so the subscriber line traffic does not have to go back to the switch. This means that the switch will have much more capacity and will enable greater networking efficiencies by eliminating the costs and need for unbundled elements from the Bell companies. This is where there is no competition and we have a potential head start that nobody catches up to. This is my Christmas present to all Tel-Save shareholders and will be the best acquisition I will ever make in my life. Almost every local and long distance company in the country can benefit from buying switches and RSS's from us.'' Tel-Save expects to maintain the quality management team and hard working people that Symetrics has in place.
On November 25, Tel-Save acquired the common stock of privately held Compco, Inc., the nations leading provider of communications software in the college and university marketplace, in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $13.5 million. Compco's customers include approximately 100 of the premier academic institutions in the country, the smaller of which include Harvard, Yale and Brown Universities as well as larger institutions such as the Universities of California, Alabama, Notre Dame and Miami. Through its vertical integration strategy, Tel-Save intends to leverage these Compco relationships by offering bundled communications services to the college and university market. Compco based in Brentwood, Tennessee has the best management in the industry with Gerald Skinner and Gerald Quick and Tel-Save intends to use this high quality and hard working management team to quickly grow this market.
Tel-Save Holdings, Inc. is a nationwide provider of telecommunication services utilizing its state-of-the-art telecommunications network -- One Better Net (''OBN''). Tel-Save headquarters are located at 6805 Route 202, New Hope, Pennsylvania 18938.
SOURCE: Tel-Save Holdings, Inc.
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