CompuServe Corp. will close its family oriented Wow! online service on Jan. 31 in an effort to stem financial losses.
The company reported last week it lost $26.8 million, which amounted to 31 cents per share, in its second quarter. CompuServe launched WOW! with much fanfare last April. It has attracted only 102,000 subscribers."When we launched our WOW! service earlier this year, we felt it was the right product for the time," said Bob Massey, CompuServe president. "Since that time, much has changed in terms of market entrants, pricing and the high cost to compete in the mass consumer market."
CompuServe said it will go "back-to-basics" and focus on business and professional users of its online services. It plans to launch "CompuServe for Business," an enhanced service with content geared for business and professional people, early next year. It also plans to go after the European market, the company said.
CompuServe, the oldest online service, said it had 3.3 million subscribers worldwide as of Oct. 31. In 1994 it was the top online service with 2.5 million subscribers, leading America Online and Prodigy.
America Online took over the top spot the next year, however. It announced recently it has more than 7 million subscribers.