Back to press releasesNEWARK, N.J. – April 7, 2003 – IDT Corporation (NYSE:IDT, IDT.C), a multinational carrier, telephone and technology company, is pleased to announce that the Company has moved into 806th place on this year’s Fortune 1,000. IDT previously was ranked by Fortune at number 968. The new list is published in the April 14, 2003 edition of Fortune Magazine®.
“This is incredible. We’ve moved up the list past corporations like Briggs & Stratton, Martin Marietta, National Semiconductor, 3Com and Dun & Bradstreet, just to name a few. These companies are American institutions and household names,” said Howard Jonas, IDT’s Chairman. “I am very proud of this recognition. In less than a year, we’ve leaped ahead 162 spots from 968 to 806. If we keep growing at this rate, IDT could be in the Fortune 500 in less than 2 years!”
The Fortune 1,000 ranks the largest publicly traded U.S. corporations by annual revenues. At $1.532 billion, the magazine noted that IDT’s 2002 revenues are up more than 24% from the previous year.
“It’s very gratifying to see the hard work of our employees and management be rewarded with an impressive jump in the Fortune 1000 rankings,” said Jim Courter, IDT’s CEO. “While I’m pleased with IDT’s performance, I can not say that I’m surprised. IDT’s success is in large part the result of our discipline in staying the course. While we could have enjoyed a short life in the fast lane and built our company with debt, we chose the road less traveled. It might be a slower road, but it’s a surer path toward profitability. It’s a route paved with strategic acquisitions at rational prices, steady sustainable organic growth and a debt free balance sheet.”
On April 3, 2003, IDT announced that former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Jack Kemp, joined IDT’s Board of Directors. In addition to Mr. Kemp, IDT’s outside Directors include former CEO of University Optical Products, Inc, J. Warren Blaker, former U.S. Senator from Minnesota, Rudy Boschwitz, President Emeritus of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Saul Fenster, Chairman of Stone Tower Capital LLC, Michael Levitt, President and CEO of Crystallex Inc, Marc J. Oppenheimer, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral William Owens, Chairman of Canary Wharf Group plc, Paul Reichmann, and former Governor of Massachusetts, William Weld.
IDT Corporation, through its IDT Telecom subsidiary, is a facilities-based, multinational carrier that provides a broad range of telecommunications services to its retail and wholesale customers worldwide. IDT Telecom, by means of its own national telecommunications backbone and fiber optic network infrastructure, provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance telephony and prepaid calling cards. IDT and Liberty Media Corporation own 95% and 5 % of IDT Telecom, respectively. IDT acquired the assets of Winstar Communications in December 2001.
IDT Corporation common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT and IDT.C. As of March 13, 2003, there were about 54.4 million shares of Class B common stock outstanding, and about 25.1 million shares of common stock. Of these, approximately 4.0 million shares of Class B common stock and approximately 5.4 million shares of common stock were held by IDT Corporation.
In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which we use the words “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate, “target” and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment of what may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important factors, including, but not limited to, those described in our most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”), which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: potential declines in prices for our products and services; our ability to maintain and grow our retail telecommunications services, particularly our prepaid calling card business; availability of termination capacity; financial stability of our customers; our ability to maintain carrier agreements with foreign carriers; effectiveness of our marketing and distribution efforts; increased competition, particularly from regional bell operating companies; our ability to manage our growth; competitiveness of our Winstar subsidiary; impact of government regulation; our ability to obtain telecommunications products or services required for our products and services; and general economic conditions, particularly in the telecommunications markets. We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update the forward-looking statements in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
