In the face of pricing confusion among the major service providers, they clocked up one million accounts within five months and became the market leader. They were listed on the London Stock Exchange within the year, and upon floatation were over 30 times subscribed.
With 30% of the UK internet market, Freeserve led the way with editorial comment, community functions, e-commerce opportunities, and tools and services.
The site was redesigned in 2000, with dedicated channels for business, careers, entertainment, education, finance, shopping, news, and many other popular interest areas. They also have a site for women (www.icircle.com) and a small business site (www.clearlybusiness.com). Also in 2000 they launched FreeservePlus, the first "always on" broadband access and portal service in the UK.
In December 2000 Freeserve was acquired by France's leading media and online services company, the Wanadoo Group, France's leading telecommunications provider.
Throughout 2002 and 2003 continued its UK marketing drive, teaming up with Dixons to provide low cost broadband on new PCs and offering users no contract subscriptions.
Latest Freeserve news:
http://press.aboutfreeserve.com /
This article was first published on 02 May 2003 and does not necessarily match current events or the current opinions and views of bigmouthmedia ltd.
