Former Boomin Boss to Return to Purplebricks?

Shares in UK challenger Purplebricks jumped 11% yesterday after it emerged former boss Michael Bruce is in talks to take over the company.

Bruce—who founded the business with his brother Kenny in 2012—is also the founder of Boomin, a company which saddled him with a loss of £4.1 million when it went bust in October.

Purplebricks is publicly up for sale amid in-fighting, with shareholder Lecram holdings Limited calling for company chairman Paul Pindar to step down.

According to British publication Property Industry Eye, Purplebricks wasn't willing to discuss ongoing or potential takeover bids.

But it appears Bruce is tempted to bring Boomin's tech to Purplebricks.

In fairness to Boomin, its investment into tech and innovation was a key driving force behind the challenger's positioning.

Examples include the SmartVal tool, or ChainMaker—an in-house tech developed by Boomin to help agents quickly source a new buyer should another buyer break the chain. Boomin also advertised "SecretProperty" as a search option for property seekers, who receive a notification if a property matching their search criteria gets valued by a local agent.

A potential addition could be the integration of the interior design service My Bespoke Room, which Boomin acquired in June 2022.