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| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq: FREI[1] | |
| Industry | OnlineInternet service provider |
| Founded | December 1998; 27 years ago (1998-12) |
| Founder | Robert McCausland |
| Defunct | October 2000 (2000-10) |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Headquarters | Federal Way, WashingtonUnited States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Bob McCausland (CEO) Naveen Jain (director) |
| Services | Free Internet access |
Number of employees | 365 |
Freei Networks, Inc. (also known asFreei.net,FreeInternet.com) was a freeInternet service provider from 1998-2000. In 2000, FreeInternet.com was acquired byUnited Online, Inc. (owner of NetZero, Juno, Classmates.com and others). In 2008, United Online re-launched FreeInternet.com as a website dedicated to free and discounted retail offers.
Freei provided a free alternative ISP, allowing users to anonymously log on to the internet using the Freei software and dialer. It reached over 2 million registered users nationally by 1999, and 3.2 million by the summer of 2000. In lieu of a subscription fee, the software displayed ads on the user's computer.[2]
Freei filed for an IPO on March 31, 2000. It went public on theNasdaq under ticker symbol FREI.[3]
On October 9, 2000, Freei filed for bankruptcy after laying off 30% of its workforce.One week later, on October 16, 2000, the rest of the workforce was laid off and the corporate headquarters in Federal Way, Washington was permanently closed. In early November 2000, Freei's remaining assets were sold at auction.
