EarthLink Snags FirstWorld Subscribers

The Atlanta-based national service provider just keeps growing by acquisition as it picks up more than 100,000 dial-up users in five states.

by Thor Olavsrud of internetnews.com [April 19, 2001]

Atlanta-based EarthLink Wednesday picked up an estimated 125,000 dial-up subscribers with the acquisition of FirstWorld Internet Services' dial-up subscriber base.

The subscribers were put on the block by FirstWorld parent Verado, which is in the process of divesting its non-core business assets to focus on the Web hosting and managed services industry.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Verado's move comes on the heels of its announcement two weeks ago that it is terminating its contracts with the city of Anaheim in order to eliminate the operating losses, cash outflow and long-term debt obligations of its subsidiary, FirstWorld Anaheim.

The FirstWorld base is primarily situated in Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington and Texas.

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