Breathe sold to GUS for £1.4m
Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers this week secured the sale of the assets and technology of breathe.com for £1.4m to General Universal Stores.
Michael Horrocks and Steven Anthony Pearson from PwC’s Manchester office were appointed last month as joint administrators to the UK’s fifth-largest internet service provider.
Earlier this month PwC made redundant an undisclosed number of the 140 staff’s internet service provider Breathe.com.
The Warrington, Cheshire and London-based ISP offered unmetered internet access for a flat, but last month was unable to attract further investment. Breathe boasts about 300,000 registered customers – including 70,000 dial-up users. In the nine months to 30 September 2000, breathe.com generated sales of £1.4m, predominantly from advertising revenue and commissions. GUS expects breathe.com to experience losses up to £7m over the next year.
GUS said it had chosen to purchase the beleaguered ISP because of its substantial expertise and technology in enabling multi-device access to the internet, using PCs, WAP phones and other devices. The company was also impressed with Breathe’s voice recognition product and its single login for users.
Chief executive at GUS John Peace, said: ‘We are very pleased to have the opportunity to use the information and technology that we have acquired with breathe.com. The company has been very advanced in developing multi-device access to the internet, with ease of use the top most priority.’
Links
Freeserve gets better as Breathe expires
Administrators appointed at Breathe
Company rescue proposals unveiled
Breathe offers unmetered free Wap access