Mike Griffiths, the founder of Expert Agent, has left – just months after the business running it, Websky, was acquired by ZPG.

An automated email response from his inbox said that he left on Friday.

ZPG announced its acquisition of Expert Agent on March 1, but the purchase was ‘called in’ by the Competition and Markets Authority later that month. The acquisition was subsequently cleared in June.

While Griffiths had founded Websky, he no longer owned it or had any shares in it after selling the business to private equity firm Metropolis International in 2013. He said the sale to ZPG had come as “a complete surprise” to him and his colleagues but expressed his confidence in the new owners.

A ZPG spokesperson said yesterday: “We confirm that Mike has now left the business and thank him for all his support over the past few months.

“He leaves behind a very competent team who will continue to support the ongoing product development and the 2,500 agents who use Expert Agent on a daily basis.”

Griffiths told EYE: “With regard to the future, I’m certainly not going to retire or disappear. I’m going to spend time with as many agent friends as I can over the next few months – helping them with their IT and online strategy.

“I’m particularly interested in helping resolve the challenges presented to high street agents by the need to compete with online and hybrid agents.”

He said that if anyone needs any input or wants to discuss any plans, they can email him: mike@mikegriffiths.biz