The founders of Purplebricks are staging a surprise return to the online estate agency they once built into a household name.
According to reports from Sky News, brothers Michael Bruce and Kenny Bruce are rejoining Purplebricks as part of a deal with its owner, Sir Charles Dunstone.
Sources say the pair will take a significant minority stake alongside Sir Charles’s investment vehicle, Freston Ventures. Michael Bruce is expected to return as chief executive, while Kenny Bruce will help lead efforts to restore the business to sustainable long-term growth.
Purplebricks launched in 2014 promising to disrupt the traditional estate agency model with a fixed-fee service for sellers. The company listed on the London stock market a year later and at its peak captured a significant share of the UK’s residential property sales market.
However, investor concerns over its costly international expansion into markets including the US and Australia led to the departure of co-founder Michael Bruce as chief executive in 2019. The company’s finances continued to deteriorate and in 2023 it was sold for £1 to rival Strike, backed by Sir Charles Dunstone.
Strike has since rebranded its operations under the Purplebricks name, reflecting the enduring recognition of the 12-year-old brand in the UK property market.
After leaving Purplebricks, the Bruce brothers launched another online property venture, Boomin, aimed at challenging Rightmove, but the business was liquidated in 2022.
In a statement issued to Sky News on Sunday evening, Michael Bruce said: “My brother and I are delighted to return home to the business we founded and are excited to work with Sir Charles Dunstone and the Purplebricks team to drive success and build market share in the UK housing market.
“We will work tirelessly to deliver an exceptional service for every homeowner whilst leading the business through its next phase of growth.”
Perhaps we’re going into a rising market where anyone can sell a house just by listing it online!! News to me though
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Presumably they will roll out some sort of self employed set up which would make sense.
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‘help lead efforts to restore the business to sustainable long-term growth’….. never made a profit in 12 years. Never will. I just don’t understand how the board think this business model can make money as an Estate Agent. Looks like the the Brucie Boys are going to get another go at fleecing this business.
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These boys did well no doubt about it. They tried to go again with Boomin it never worked. Know another entrepreneur, now a client once sold a business for £40m. Lost it all and still trying to get back, with new ideas but it won’t work. Like him they had their time well done, guess they’re running low, trying to conjure up something ride, but it would have to be revolutionary to happen again and I doubt very much there is a gap in the market as we currently exist. Market conditions stacked against a huge success in Estate Agency. Unless AI related and there’s only one firm leading the way with that at the moment IMO and no one can catch them.
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*something else
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