 | |
Native name | בזק, החברה הישראלית לתקשורת בע"מ |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| TASE: BEZQ | |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1984; 41 years ago (1984) |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Tomer Raved(chairman)[1] Nir David(CEO)[2] |
| Products | Fixed line,mobile telephony,Internet,cable television |
| Revenue |  ₪9.98 billion(2015)[3] |
1,710,000,000 new shekel (2020)  | |
| 1,040,000,000 new shekel (2020) | |
Number of employees | 15,132 |
| Subsidiaries | Pelephone,Bezeq International,yes |
| Website | www.bezeq.co.il |
Bezeq (Hebrew:בזק) is an Israelitelecommunications company. Bezeq and its subsidiaries offer a range of telecom services, includingfixed-line,mobile telephony,high-speed Internet,Fiber Internet transmission, andpay TV (viaYes).
The company is traded in theTel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol BEZQ, and is part of theTel Aviv 35 Index.[4]
In the late 1980sAnat Hoffman founded a group to protect the interests of Bezeq customers. A major complaint was that Bezeq did not send customers itemized bills. 46 cases were brought to small claims court and the consumers won 43 of them. Within two years of the campaign. consumers began to receive itemized bills.[5]
In April 2012, Bezeq acquired full ownership ofWalla! Communications, Israel's leading Internet portal, which has more than 2.5 million monthly unique users. In December 2020, Bezeq sold its 100% stake in Walla! Communications.[citation needed]
Bezeq operates theB144directory enquiries service.[6]
In February 2015, Bezeq acquired full ownership of Yes, Israel's leading television provider, for₪680 million.[7]
Until the mid-first decade of the 21st century when it was owned by the Israeli government, Bezeq had amonopoly onlandlinetelephony andInternet access infrastructure (ADSLVDSL2).[8] Though still the most dominant provider of telephone services,[9] it has had competition from the sole cable provider in the country (since September 2006),Hot, which offers a cables based telephone and internet access services as of 2005, and with012 Smile and more recently 013 netvision andOrange.
On 9 May 2005, Israel's Government Companies Authority, headed byEyal Gabbai privatized Bezeq when 30% of its shares were sold by the state to theApax-Saban-Arkin investment group for $972 million.[10]
In April 2010, the controlling interest in Bezeq, held by the Apax-Saban-Arkin group, was sold toB Communications, a subsidiary ofShaul Elovitch'sEurocom Group, for $1.75 billion.[11]
In late 2017, bank filed a petition against Elovitch to break up Eurocom Group to pay back loans totaling $275 million.[12] This would directly impact the 10% shareholding in Bezeq, including Elovitch's 26% controlling stake.Meir Shamir has expressed interest in buying a controlling stake, effectively cancelling the debt to the banks.[13][14] Two other investors have also expressed interest in purchasing a stake in Bezeq, including Argentine investor Eduardo Elsztain and Elliott Management, who announced they had recently purchased a 4,8% stake.[15]
In 2018 the company announced that company CEO Stella Handler would be resigning her position. She is one of several Bezeq employees under investigation by theIsrael Securities Authority and theIsrael Police regarding Bezeq's purchase of Yes shares and allegations of improper dealings with theIsraeli Ministry of Communication.[16] Also in 2018, board membersShaul Elovitch, Or Elovitch and Orna Elovitch resigned as a result ofCase 4000, an ongoing corruption investigation involving the former Prime Minister of IsraelBenjamin Netanyahu.[17][18]
In October 2017, Danish pension firmSampension banned investment in Bezeq alongside three other companies operating inillegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including two Israeli banks,Bank Hapoalim andBank Leumi, and German firmHeidelberg Cement.[19]
On 12 February 2020, theUnited Nations published adatabase of 112 companies helping to furtherIsraeli settlement activity in theWest Bank, includingEast Jerusalem, as well as in the occupiedGolan Heights.[20] These settlements are consideredillegal under international law.[21] Bezeq was listed on the database on account of its "provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements" and "the use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for businesspurposes" in these occupied territories.[22]
On 5 July 2021,Norway's largest pension fundKLP said it would divest from Bezeq together with 15 other business entities implicated in the UN report for their links to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.[23]
B Communications, founded in 1999 as 012 Smile.Communications, is a publicly traded company. It currently functions as a holding company of Bezeq and is headquartered inRamat Gan,Israel. Its shares are traded on theNASDAQ Global Select Market and on theTel Aviv Stock Exchange. B Communications is controlled by Searchlight II BZQ L.P (60%) and TNR investments Ltd (11%).[24][25]
As the largest telecommunication operator in Israel, Bezeq provides wired and wireless telephone and other communications services to consumer and business subscribers throughout Israel.
Nir David appointed CEO of Bezeq
