IDT Purchases Genie Service From Yovelle Renaissance
May 01, 2011
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Pushing into the ``content'' side of the on-line world, Internet-access provider IDT Corp.. Monday said it purchased the Genie on-line service, formerly owned by General Electric Co., from Yovelle Renaissance Corp.. Terms weren't disclosed. IDT said the purchase gives it rights to the Rockville, Md.-based Genie name and content, which will be incorporated into IDT's Internet-based Genie Interactive. The new service will offer flat-fee unlimited access. Genie also will provide users with customized news, stock quotes, travel information and audio/video conferencing capability. In January, General Electric sold the struggling Genie service to Yovelle Renaissance, which then entered a service agreement with IDT to make Genie's offerings accessible on the World Wide Web. Genie, which was launched in 1985, had fewer than 100,000 members when it was sold to Yovelle Renaissance. Analysts said Genie had been hampered by its aging computer technology, though it had found a niche among some on-line users for its games, in which multiple players can compete against one another from their computers. IDT recently wrapped up a deal to license Navigator Communications Corp.'s Internet browser software. IDT, a small but thriving firm, is best known for brazenly touting racy fare as the centerpiece of its Internet marketing pitch.
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