World Online

World Online (WOL) was a European Internet Service Provider (ISP) which came to prominence in the late 1990s dotcom boom.

Founded by Dutch entrepreneur Nina Brink, World Online's name indicated its aspiration to rival the hugely successful American ISP, AOL (America On-Line).

It launched its full internet service in the Netherlands in 1996, and grew rapidly to have a presence in 15 European countries and South Africa; counting some 1.9 million customers by the year 2000.

WOL's IPO in 2000 proved a disaster and left the reputations of the banks, the Amsterdam stock exchange and the company itself tarnished.

It was underwritten by ABN AMRO and Goldman Sachs, and promoted via a pan-European ad campaign involving hired celebrities like royal Sarah, Duchess of York, actor Christopher Reeve, and rocker Joe Cocker.

The tumbling share price coincided with the disclosure that Nina Brink had sold her stake in the ISP in December, prior to the flotation, for $60 million.

Dutch investors, including World Online staff who took up loans from the company to buy shares, were outraged.

The exchange eventually permitted the listing after it was shown that Baystar had not agreed to a lock-up agreement to keep its shares for a time, as is usual in such situations.

James Kinsella, an American, previously CEO of MSNBC.com, replaced Brink as Chairman of World Online in June.

He focussed on becoming a network operator and increasing subscriber numbers by introducing a flat-fee service, but the company was limited in its success of stimulating growth.

Kinsella eventually sold World Online to Tiscali, an Italian competitor, in a deal that valued WOL at more than $5 billion.