Dixons is taking a leaf out of the privatisation stocks by opening its Freeserve flotation to the British public. As previously announced, Freeserve is offering its customers the chance to get onto the Internet gravy train. In the almost inevitable event of oversubscription, preference will be given to Freeserve subscribers and Dixons Store Group employees. This should drive up Freeserve subscriptions nicely. It would be daft for punters not to improve their chances by joining a free ISP. Retail investors have to register their interest on the Freeserve site by 3pm on 9 July. The minimum punt is £250. Why will the Freeserve IP0 be oversubscribed? Well, for one thing, there hasn't been a fat and juicy privatisation stock for British retail investors to sink their teeth into for ages. And this is the first chance for British punters to participate in big and exciting Internet IPO. For another: Freeserve is marketing the IPO worldwide to institutional investors, many of which will be very keen to participate in Europe's biggest Internet IPO to date. Dixons is only offering 18.5 per cent of Freeserve's enlarged share capital in the float. And that means post-IPO scrabbling for shares. Freeserve is not saying what the allocation between retail and institutional investment will be. But the split should ensure huge press excitement and a healthy market for first day rampers, as retail owners of Freeserve stock flog their shares to underweight institutional investors. In this context, Freeserve's headline financials are almost irrelevant. For its first seven months in trading (22 September 1998 to 1 May 1999), the company made a net loss of £1.04 million on sales of £2.73 million. ® See also: So how many readers has Freeserve got? Dixons signs arms length treaty with Freeserve Energis Freeserve reward less than expected Freeserve rolls out Internet telephony Cash conscious surfers back Freeserve model Freeserve blitzkriegs UK with charm offensive