J2 Global – A Renowned Digital Media And Cloud Computing Company In The US.
Digital media has shown unbound opportunities in the 21st century especially now that every nation wants to go digital. And, in recent years, the potential of cloud platforms and their demand has increased rapidly. J2 Global is a company that has established itself in the digital media and cloud computing industry. The company has over 4,000 employees and its total assets sum up to nearly $3.5 billion. J2 Global is based in Los Angeles, California and it mainly provides internet services through Business Cloud Services and Digital Media.
About J2 Global
J2 Global is a publicly traded tech company that was founded in December 1995. Jaye Muller and Jack Reiley co-founded J2 Globals. The company has two business divisions, namely, Business Cloud Services and Digital Media Division (Ziff Davis). There are several firms under the business cloud division of the company. Some of them are eVoice, UnityFax, Excel Micro, VIPRE, etc. And, the digital media division of the company includes brands like PC Magazine, Everyday Health, IGN.com, and Mashable. J2 Global has also been the recipient of many prestigious awards. In 2012, the company was recognized in the InformationWeek 500 list of technology companies. Next year, J2 Global was featured in the Forbes list (rank 40) of America’s Best Small Companies.
The Idea Behind J2 Global
The idea of founding J2 Global came from Jaye Muller who was an established musician hailing from East Berlin. He also studied electronics which was another interest of his apart from music. As a musician, Muller traveled a lot and he needed to change hotels almost every day. This created an inconvenience for Muller as he received the fax and voice mails one or two days late and his privacy was compromised as the hotel staff read or listened to his confidential messages. So, when he started researching for any commercial service or product that would help him receive his day-to-day voice mails and faxes on a personal device, he found none. This is when he along with Reiley decided to open a business and fill the void.
Initially, Muller started creating a rough plan for an email-based retrieval system for receiving and sending voice mail and faxes. He was working with a telecommunication company based in Australia to develop the prototype. In 1995 Jaye Muller and Jack Reiley founded the company J2 Global which back then was known as JFax.com. In 2000, the company’s name was changed to J2 Global Communications and again in December 2011, it was changed to J2 Global.
Major Events Of The Company
With the advent of the 21st century, J2 decided to expand the company through some acquisitions. So, in 2000, J2 acquired SureTalk.com, a California-based company that offered online messaging services. It also acquired common stocks for TimeShift which is a web-based technology company. The same year, J2 acquired one of its biggest market rivals, eFax, a company that provided free internet faxing service. Initially, when the company was launched it operated only with the business cloud division and in 2012 the digital media division was launched. This new division was created after the acquisition of a digital publisher called Zeff Davis Inc. Recently, it has acquired many companies that include IGN Entertainment, MetroFax, Backup Connect BV, Business Critical Software, SaferVPN, etc. J2 currently has a global network across more than 50 countries.
About The Founders
Jaye Muller is a famous German musician and a successful entrepreneur who co-founded J2 Global with Jack Reiley. In 1995, he established J2 Global to eradicate the problem of receiving delayed faxes and voice mails. He remained an active part of the company till 2004 and a shareholder till 2016. Before coming into the internet business, he released two solo albums but put his music career on hold for some time as he exclusively focused on J2.
Jack Reiley also comes from a musical background as he was a songwriter, record producer, and disc jockey. Apart from co-writing songs, Reiley also released a solo album called Western Justice. He passed away in April 2015.
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