Dan Borislow, American businessman, invented the magicJack (d. 2014)
Daniel Marc Borislow (September 21, 1961 – July 21, 2014) was an American entrepreneur, sports team owner, inventor, and thoroughbred horse breeder. Borislow was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Widener University. In 1989, he founded Tel-Save, Inc. to resell access to AT&T long-distance lines. Borislow took the company public in 1995, and two years later brokered a $100 million deal with AOL at the "Cafe Europa." In early 1998, Tel-Save had sales of $300 million and was valued by Wall Street investors at $2 billion. However, due to the financial strain of paying off the AOL deal, Tel-Save lost $221 million in 1999, and Borislow sold his stock for approximately $300 million and retired.In his brief retirement, he focused on his horse racing career. After selling most of his horses in 2004, Borislow set forth plans for a new voice-over-IP business which became the magicJack. Invented in 2007, the magicJack is a small product that is plugged into a computer's USB port and allows for unlimited calling from regular telephones. In 2010, YMAX, the company behind the magicJack, merged with an Israeli company and became a publicly traded corporation.
In 2011, Borislow purchased a controlling share of the Washington Freedom women's professional soccer team. He had a brief turbulent relationship with other owners and the players which ended in a battle of lawsuits and the termination of the soccer team and league.
Borislow and his family lived in Palm Beach County, Florida. Borislow died from an apparent heart attack on July 21, 2014.