Formula Systems is a publicly traded holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 headquartered in Or Yehuda

Or Yehuda

Or Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:Or Yehuda is located where the biblical city of Kefar Ono used to stand....

, Israel. Through its subsidiaries it operates mainly in the area of information technology

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

. Shares of Formula Systems are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market

NASDAQ

The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

 and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Tel Aviv is Israel's only stock exchange.The TASE is the only public market for trading securities in Israel. It plays a major role in the Israeli economy....

. In 2010 Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 software maker Asseco

Asseco

Asseco Poland SA is the largest corporation in the technology sector quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It was established in 1991 and provided computer software to the banking industry. The current corporation is the result of a merger between ASSET Soft AS and COMP Rzeszów SA. It currently...

 acquired a 50.2% stake in the company.

History

Formula Systems was founded in 1985 by brothers Dan and Gad Goldstein. Dan Goldstein, who had an undergraduate degree in math and computer science and a master's in business management, had been a doctoral student at Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

 when, in 1981, he decided to leave the academic world and direct his efforts toward the private sector instead. He established a software company, which he called Formula Software Solutions, serving such clients as Egged and Mekorot

Mekorot

Mekorot is the national water company of Israel and the country's top agency for water management.Mekorot was founded in 1937. It supplies 90% of Israel's drinking water and 80% of its water supplies. The company runs 3,000 installations throughout the country for water supply, water quality,...

, and recruited brother Gad Goldstein to work alongside him. Soon the two co-founded Formula Systems.

In 2006, 33.6% of Formula was owned by Emblaze Group. In late 2010, Polish software maker Asseco, a subsidiary of Asseco Group, acquired a 50.2% stake in Formula Systems.

Subsidiaries

Formula Systems' portfolio has changed over the years, but always with an emphasis on software engineering. At various times it included Magic Software Enterprises, Crystal Systems, Liraz, Sivan, Martix IT, Sapiens International Corporation, New Applicom, Sintec, nextSource, and BluePhoenix Solutions

BluePhoenix Solutions

BluePhoenix Solutions is a publicly traded company, headquartered in Israel, that develops and sells modernization solutions for legacy information technology systems. Its shares are traded on the NASDAQ Global Market exchange and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.- Company :BluePhoenix Solutions...

. As of fiscal year 2010, Formula retains a majority interest in three public companies: Sapiens International Corporation N.V. (71.6%), Magic Software Enterprises

Magic Software Enterprises

Magic Software Enterprises is an international software company ranked in the Software 500 by Software Magazine. International headquarters are in Or Yehuda, Israel while the North American headquarters are in Laguna Hills, California and the European main office is located in Houten,...

 (51.7%), and Matrix IT (50.1%).