The six-month saga of World Online ended yesterday with the European Internet service provider's original shareholders facing big losses. Its €5.9 billion takeover by Tiscali, the Italian Internet operator, was agreed at less than half the offer price investors paid when World Online floated in March. Soon after World Online's high-profile flotation, it emerged that Ms Nina Brink, chairwoman, had sold the bulk of her stake ahead of the offering at a fraction of the offer price. The news led to a collapse in the share price. The deal creates Europe's second largest internet access company, behind T-Online, an offshoot of Germany's Deutsche Telekom.