N.Y. Times on Howard Jonas and IDT

N.Y. Times business section has a story on Howard Jonas's company IDT where shareholders are attempting to shake things up in midst of a stagnant stock price.

Here are excerpts though, time providing, read the entire fascinating and detailed article:

(Howard Jonas, left, chairman of IDT, and James Courter, chief executive)

Besides making a foray into entertainment - which represented $187 million of the company's $2.45 billion in revenue in its latest year - Mr. Jonas has used IDT as a launching pad for several ventures around the world, from Net2Phone, the Internet telephone service, to a talk-radio network and a financial services business. Along the way, he has attracted some powerful admirers, including John C. Malone, the billionaire whose Liberty Media is IDT's biggest single shareholder, with a 23.5 percent stake...

The reference to Mr. Icahn, the corporate raider turned activist who is pressuring Time Warner to unlock shareholder value, was deliberate. Some members of IDT's board recently received a big black binder from Providence Capital, a brokerage firm led by the activist investor Herbert A. Denton, whose Providence Recovery Partners Fund is an IDT shareholder. The material from Providence asserts that IDT's cash hoard, "opaque financial reporting" and "miscellaneous clutter" of business ventures have depressed the stock...

"He's not motivated by money," Mr. Courter said in an interview. "He wants to change the world - make it a happier place, a more peaceful place." ...