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To: Gene Reardon who wrote (830)5/18/1999 10:01:00 PM
From: Brent Gilbertson  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1567
 


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.

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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.


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Updated:
5/18/99 8:30:14 PM ET




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.

Steve Gelsi is a reporter for CBS MarketWatch.






To: Gene Reardon who wrote (830)5/19/1999 1:09:00 AM
From: Francois Goelo  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 1567
 
Gene, I agree with your comment. The more Asian your Company is...

the more likely it is to succeed at obtaining the necessary licenses. ZSUN is already established into Hong Hong and the Philippines while XNET, run by Chinese management is growing its operations in two more Chinese cities. GTCI is in the process of doing the same and is run by a Chinese, Terry Wong. I don't know too much about IMOT, but I imagine its the same.

While the tension over Sino American relations continues, due to the bombing and the attempt at entering in the WTO, small Chinese Internet related Companies will be favored. In addition, there only a very limited number of Licenses, so new comers, no matter how large, will be at a disadvantage.

Regards, F. Goelo + + +