Freeserve, a subsidiary of the UK retailer Dixons, popularized no-fee Internet access in the UK and it has become the UK's largest ISP with approximately 1.3 million subscribers. Free ISP service was first offered in the UK by X-Stream Technologies in the spring of 1998 and there are now over 100 free ISPs operating in the UK. The success of the free ISPs has forced AOL to change its business model in the UK and even AOL will soon be offering its subscribers free Internet access. The service is not actually free as local phone calls in the UK are metered. The UK regulatory environment dictates that Freeserve and the other free ISPs receive a portion of the revenues generated by the telecoms. Freeserve has partnered with the telecom Energis. A portion of Freeserve's revenues are derived from these telecom rebates. The company is also positioning itself as a portal, hoping to generate additional revenues from e-commerce and advertising fees.
The Hoover's profile can be found at:
ipocentral.hoovers.com
Filing date: July 12, 1999
Expected IPO date: Week of July 26, 1999
Exchange: Nasdaq
Proposed ticker: FREE
Proposed offering price: $20.17 to $23.27
ADRs offered: 15.304 MM
Post-offering ADRs: 100.372 MM
Underwriters: Credit Suisse First Boston; Cazenove & Co.; BancBoston
Robertson Stephens; Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation;
Merrill Lynch & Co.; Warburg Dillion Read LLC
Fiscal year end: April
1999 Sales: $4.4 MM
1999 Income (Loss): $(1.7) MM
Employees: 16
CEO: John Pluthero
CFO: Nick Backhouse
Freeserve's web site:
freeserve.com |
