Boomin to Layoff 20+ Staff

More than 20 staff members at Boomin face the risk of redundancy, it has emerged, with consultation processes already underway.

CEO Michael Bruce wrote to partner agents outlining proposals to cut more than 20 roles across the UK business.

Property Industry Eye obtained a copy of the letter Bruce wrote, with an abridged version below:

Boomin is reducing the excess headcount which was necessary during our build and launch phase.  Whilst it is fair to say that we would have liked to have retained some people for longer we recognise that in this economic environment we need  to invest to deliver the innovation and high levels of customer service you rightly expect from us, whilst also accelerating our path to sustainable profitability.
In view of the fact that these reductions are expected to impact over 20 of our people we will be entering a collective consultation process. We will do all we can to support those team members affected through the process. As agents you should experience no change to the quality of our service.
These efficiency improvements will enable us to redouble our focus and investment on advertising, marketing and, in turn, what we deliver for you;  creating more valuation opportunities and quality business for your brand.
We remain incredibly focussed on changing the status quo, away from pure classifieds towards a platform that offers a better experience for home owners, searchers and outcomes for our agent partners.  We are excited about the future and have a pipeline of further innovations, which we plan to start announcing in the coming weeks.

Michael Bruce is a well-known figure in the UK property industry, having co-founded disruptor Purplebricks with brother Kenny in 2012. Bruce left Purplebricks in May 2019 and founded Boomin a year later, with the promise of delivering a customer-centric portal that 'creates new business opportunities for agents'.

Boomin has had good PR recently, including good figures surrounding its SmartVal tool the acquisition of My Bespoke Room, but news of impending redundancies once again raise doubts about challenger portals toppling Rightmove as the UK's #1 portal.

Meanwhile, Bruce's previous company Purplebricks has defended a fee hike and the scrapping of its money back guarantee, while rival Zoopla is also engaged in a consultation period for 30 staff.