Deltathree

Deltathree Inc. is an American company engaged in the business of voice over IP telephony services. The company was one of the first in the world to offer a telephony service over the internet, reducing the cost of international calls by over 90 percent.^[2]

Deltathree inc.

Deltathree's research and development facility, and operational center at the Jerusalem Technology Park
Company type	Public (OTCQB: DDDC)
Industry	Communications services
Founded	1996; 29 years ago (1996)
Defunct	12 February 2009
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Key people	Dror Gonen (President and CEO), Lior Samuelson (Chairman of the board)
Products	Voice over IP
Revenue	US$29.47 million (2007)[1]
Net income	(US$9.31 million) (2007)[1]
Number of employees	155
Website	deltathree.com

Users can either use the free softdialer product and make calls through their computer, or sign up for the broadband phone service and receive an Analog Telephony Adapter (ATA) or the linksys PAP2 device. Both devices allows users to plug a standard phone into their internet connection and make calls independent of the PC.

History

Deltathree was founded in 1996 by Dmitry Goroshevsky, Sophia Babkove, Damian Kudriavtsev [Wikidata],^[3] Elie Wurtman and Jacob Ner David to develop an Internet-based international low cost calling service using VoIP technology, and a "PC to Phone" solution, using a technology developed by Israeli company VocalTec Communications.^[4] RSL Communications, an investment firm owned by Ronald Lauder, acquired a majority stake in Deltathree the following year,^[5] before the company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in November 1999.^[5][6] Elie Wurtman served as CEO from the company's founding until the November 1999 IPO. During that time, Wurtman completed the first historic transcontinental phone-to-phone VoIP call with FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. In 2001, RSL Communications sold its stake in the company to billionaire entrepreneur Yitzhak Tshuva who later sold his shares at a profit.^[7]

In 2001, the original company founders left to start a new company named CrossOptix, that developed ultra-high speed optical interconnect solutions;^[8] Noam Bardin was appointed as CEO, Bardin left in 2007 and later become CEO of popular GPS application Waze.^[9]

The company's shares were delisted by NASDAQ in March 2008 after falling below $1, forcing Deltathree stock to trade through the OTC Bulletin Board.^[10]

In December 2009, Deltathree announced that it had sold a majority stake (54.3%) to Australian company D4 Holdings for $1.17 million in cash. Under the agreement D4 also has the right to pick up an additional 30 million shares at 4 cents a share for the next ten years.^[11]

Operations

Deltathree's research and development facility, and operational center is based at the Jerusalem Technology Park.^[12]

References

1. "Annual Report 2007" (PDF). Deltathree. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
2. Dmitry Goroshevsky Interview: Popular Telephony P2P Revolutionizes VoIP, TMC Labs November 2004
3. Founders of Internet Telecom and Delta Three Launch a New Optical Communications Start-Up
4. Delta Three Inc. Enables PC-To-Phone Calls Worldwide; Delta Three(TM) Joins VocalTec's NextGen Telephony Program, Providing Service to Over 200 Countries Worldwide, PR Newswire Aug 18, 1997
5. Scheier, Rachel (29 November 1999). "Dot-com Friendship Worth Millions". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
6. "Internet Phone Provider Plans Stock Sale". The New York Times. September 7, 1999. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
7. Sewell, Chris (Jul 2, 2001), "RSL sells deltathree stake", Connected Planet, archived from the original on 2010-12-15
8. Israeli-American optics startup CrossOptix secures $4 million seed financing, The Street Nov 27, 2001
9. Deal Primes Israel’s Silicon Wadi for Wave of Investment, Douglas MacMillan Bloomberg Technology, June 12, 2013
10. "deltathree Kicked Off Nasdaq". PHONE+ magazine. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
11. Doug Mohney (February 4, 2009), "Deltathree changing hands", FierceVoIP, archived from the original on 2009-02-19
12. Delta Three Israel Ltd - Company Profile Bloomberg

Further reading

• MFFAIS - Mutual Fund Facts About Individual Stocks – Deltathree Inc (DTZ.BE) latest rank by number of funds buying^{[permanent dead link]}
• La Monica, Paul R. (June 2, 2005). "The right time for VoIP. Shares of Internet phone companies have been beaten down so much they now might be worth the risk". CNN Money. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
• La Monica, Paul R. (January 6, 2005). "Dialing for $ on the Web. 2005 should be the year when VoIP goes mainstream. But which companies will benefit the most?". CNN Money. Retrieved 2008-07-18.