J2 Global

j2 Global, Inc. is an American publicly traded technology company based in Los Angeles, California. The company provides Internet services through two divisions: Business Cloud Services and Digital Media.

History
j2 Global was founded in December 1995 as JFax by Jaye Muller and Jack Rieley. The company changed its registered name to j2 Global Communications, Inc. on August 2000, and again to j2 Global on December 7, 2011, dropping "Communications" from its official name to reflect "...expansion from phone number-centric services ... into complementary lines of non-phone number-centric services."

On November 12, 2012, j2 Global launched its digital media division with the acquisition of digital publisher Ziff Davis Inc. for $167 million in cash. On February 4, 2013, j2 Global announced that it had more than doubled the size of its digital media division's business with the acquisition of IGN Entertainment from News Corp. Terms of the IGN acquisition were not publicized.

On March 18, 2013, the company announced it had acquired MetroFax, a Bellevue, Washington provider of Internet faxing services. On April 17, 2013, the company acquired Backup Connect BV, a Dutch provider of online backup services. On 19 November 2013, its media division Ziff Davis announced it acquired electronics aggregating website TechBargain.com.

In February, j2 Global announced the acquisition of several companies: City Numbers, a UK-based worldwide provider of inbound toll-free numbers in over 80 countries; LiveDrive, a UK-based provider of online backup; and Australian companies OzeFax and Faxmate. On 3 April 2014 j2 Global announced that it acquired Business Critical Software (also known as iCritical), a UK-based email security and management company.

As of 2014, j2 Global has a network that covers 49 countries on six continents. As of December 31, 2013, j2 Global reported 18 consecutive fiscal years of revenue growth.

Brands and subsidiaries
The company operates two divisions; the "Business Cloud Services" division includes firms such as eFax, Onebox, eVoice, Fusemail, Campaigner, KeepITsafe, VaultLogix, Callstream, Yotta280, Mailout Interactive, GDV, BackUp Solutions, SugarSync, Nuvotera, UnityFax, Firstway Digital, Excel Micro, Web24 Group, MXSweep, City Numbers, LiveDrive, MetroFax, FoneBox, TrustFax, RapidFax, Send2Fax and Fax.com. The company's digital media division, Ziff Davis, includes brands such as PC Magazine, IGN.com, and Everyday Health.

MyFax
MyFax is an Internet business communication tool which had been provided by the Ottawa-based software company Protus IP Solutions. The company was acquired by j2 Global in December 2010.

Internet faxing is a service that permits the sending and receiving of faxes using the Internet rather than the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN), also known as the plain old telephone service (POTS) or a traditional fax machine. Faxing online eliminates problems with traditional faxing, including connection issues, busy signals and loss of data. Internet faxes can be delivered to multiple email addresses and forwarded to multiple recipients rather than to one machine at a time.

History
MyFax was launched by Protus IP Solutions in 2009 as an alternative to fax machines, as it enables users to send and receive faxes from any location. MyFax has grown to over 400,000 subscribers, with approximately 20,000 new customers subscribing to the service each month.

On December 6, 2010, MyFax announced that it had been acquired by j2 Global Communications, Inc, owners of eFax.

Features
Some of the features of MyFax include the ability to send and receive faxes by email and through the internet, as well as send faxes directly from Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Windows-based applications including Google Docs, OpenOffice.org, and Intuit QuickBooks. Recently, a program has been released that allows for iPhone and BlackBerry applications to make it fully compatible with smartphones.

In 2009, TMCnet claimed that “MyFax is the fastest-growing Internet fax service used by individuals, small, medium and large businesses to send and receive faxes using existing email accounts or the web. MyFax offers services to industries in North America and Europe that are recognized as some of the fastest-growing adopters of Internet fax including healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, transportation and government.”

MyFax is now owned by j2 Global, which has imposed very restrictive terms and conditions restricting the client's right to local number portability. Among the restrictions is a $40 US charge per number if j2 permits the number to be ported out; the company imposes many arbitrary restrictions on portability and has attempted to claim the numbers as its own property, in some cases imposing inflated penalties and unilaterally taking numbers back after they've been ported to another provider by clients.

Reviews
Before its acquisition by j2 Global, MyFax had received a few favourable reviews including an Internet Telephony magazine product of the year for 2009. While the impact of the j2 Global acquisition is unknown, other companies acquired by j2 have been the target of frequent consumer complaints regarding sales tactics, inflated fees to cancel the service and toll-free number portability issues.

Awards
In September 2012, j2 Global was recognized on the InformationWeek 500 list of technology companies.

In 2013, j2 Global was ranked number 40 in Forbes' list of "America's Best Small Companies".

Criticism
j2 Global has filed patent litigation cases against several companies, including CallWave, Comodo, EasyLink Services International Corporation, Open Text, Packetel, Protus, Venali and Vitelity. Some of the companies filed counterclaims, some of which alleged antitrust violations of Section 2 of the Sherman Act and California’s Business and Professions Code §§ 16720 and 17200.