founded 1999 founder andrew michael headquarters gloucester england parent united internet website www.fasthosts.co.uk fasthosts internet ltd is a provider of internet access and hosting services based in gloucester england . the company also operates the domain name registration service ukreg . fasthosts was originally started by andrew michael then aged 17 as part of an a level school project . 1 it became a limited company in 1999 and launched ukreg in 2000 . 2 the company specialised in providing services for small businesses 3 and in 2002 was listed as the second fastest growing technology company in the united kingdom by the sunday times . in 2005 the company had a turnover of 20 million and made 5 million profit . 4 the company also became known for hosting lavish staff christmas parties ; an event in 2005 costing 600 000 featured appearances from jonathan ross the darkness and boney m. 5 in 2006 fasthosts was sold to german internet service provider united internet for 61.5 million netting michael 46 million for his 75 % stake . 1 michael remained as ceo until 2009 6 when he left to found livedrive . 7 a hacking incident in 2007 prompted fasthosts to temporarily shut down customers websites . the company noticed that its servers had been accessed in october and wrote to customers recommending that they change their passwords ; in december after noticing unusual activity on some sites it closed down those that had yet to change their passwords until new passwords could be issued by post . 8 in 2008 fasthosts acquired reseller streamline.net 9 and also launched a reseller hosting service in the united states . 10 cloud infrastructure service rise was launched in 2010 . 11 fasthosts was the sponsor of the great exhibition 2012 . 12 in october 2014 rise was quietly divested to outsourcery for an undisclosed sum 13 references edit a b english simon 11 may 2006 . internet entrepreneur celebrates 61m deal . the independent . retrieved 15 october 2010 . our history so far . fasthosts . retrieved 15 october 2010 . pritchard stephen 31 october 2004 . tools of the trade fasthosts livemail pro email system . the independent . retrieved 15 october 2010 . young entrepreneur pockets 61.5 m . bbc news online . 12 may 2006 . retrieved 15 october 2010 . milmo cahal 20 december 2005 . ross and the darkness star at 600 000 office party . the independent . retrieved 15 october 2010 . fasthosts internet ltd. company profile . yahoo finance . retrieved 15 october 2010 . internet whizz andrew is at it again . this is gloucestershire . 5 may 2009 . retrieved 16 october 2010 . de bruxelles simon 6 december 2007 . hackers force mass website closures . times online . retrieved 16 october 2010 . dollamore ltd. . businessweek . retrieved 15 october 2010 . goldman alex 21 october 2008 . the sequel to the most aggressive webhost . isp planet . retrieved 15 october 2010 . scroxton alex 30 march 2010 . hosted clouds rise for fasthosts . microscope.co.uk . retrieved 15 october 2010 . our founder sponsor . the great exhibition 2012 . retrieved 15 october 2010 . http www.outsourcery.co.uk outsourcery pages rise.aspx external links edit fasthosts retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title fasthosts & oldid 647142842 categories internet service providers of the united kingdomtelecommunications companies established in 1999companies based in gloucester navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 14 february 2015 at 19 57 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view