Back to press releasesNEWARK, N.J. – June 28, 2001 – IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.B) is pleased to announce the appointment of Roberto Muller, President and CEO of The Muller Sports Group, to the Board of Directors of IDT Ventures, the IDT subsidiary responsible for the Company’s technology and media initiatives.
“It’s a great pleasure to welcome Roberto Muller to the Board of IDT Ventures,” said Howard Jonas, IDT’s Chairman. “He is without question a true visionary in using the media to reach consumers in ways that have great meaning to their lives.”
Muller has spent nearly 30 years as a leader and innovator in sports and product marketing. He founded PONY Sports and Leisure in 1975, developing footwear and apparel for top professional athletes and college teams. In 1992, he became President of Reebok International, and soon transformed Reebok from a primarily women’s fitness brand into a diversified performance sports brand able to compete successfully with international giants Nike and adidas.
Roberto Muller and his team, in partnership with Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, saw the opportunities and created a Hicks, Muse-owned Latin American sports and media platform, featuring Pan-american Sports Network (PSN), a 24-hour, all sports cable and satellite digital television network, and PSN.com.
“Roberto Muller’s strategic direction ensured a closer connection between Latin American fans and the PSN Network. His efforts fit in perfectly with IDT Ventures’s plans to create more and better ways for consumer marketers to reach the growing American Hispanic community,” said Charles Garner, CEO of IDT Ventures.
“I look forward to working with Howard Jonas and all the talented people at IDT Ventures,” said Roberto Muller. “They understand the opportunities presented by the growth of Latin markets throughout our hemisphere.”
In addition to currently providing the Latin American sports fan with unique sports entertainment choices through a world-class pay-TV network, Muller’s experience at PONY, Reebok, and elsewhere has given him special insight into how to reach consumers beyond the sports and Hispanic markets.
“Roberto Muller turned his love of sports into outstanding success in business,” said Jim Courter, Vice Chairman and President of IDT Corporation. “He has time and again demonstrated his ability to create product value for all consumers as well as sports enthusiasts and members of the Hispanic community. We’re delighted to have him join the many other distinguished individuals now on IDT’s various Boards of Directors.”
IDT CORPORATION
IDT is a leading facilities-based, multinational carrier that provides a broad range of telecommunications services to its wholesale and retail customers worldwide.
Through its own national telecommunications backbone and fiber optic network infrastructure, IDT provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance telephony and prepaid calling cards. The Company’s Ventures division is developing several innovative telecom and Internet related businesses. Through its IDT Investments subsidiary, IDT has equity interests in several telecom and Internet-related companies.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations and assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, involving risks and uncertainties. These statements refer to our plans to implement our growth strategy, improve our financial performance, expand our infrastructure, develop new products and services, expand our customer base and enter international markets. The forward looking statements also include our expectations concerning factors affecting the markets for our products, including the demand for long distance telecommunications, and Internet access services. These forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results that we anticipate. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those risks discussed in this release. In addition to the factors specifically noted in the forward looking statements, other important factors that could result in those differences include (a) general economic conditions in the telecommunications and Internet markets, including inflation, recession, interest rates, and other economic factors; (b) casualty to or other disruption of our facilities and operations; (c) those discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10K for the period ended July 31, 2001 and (d) other factors that generally affect the business of telecommunications, Internet and other communications companies. We assume no obligation to update these forward looking statements or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward looking statements.
