Purplebricks Group PLC, the UK’s largest online-only real estate brokerage, will lay off more than 10% of its workers as part of a cost-cutting initiative, according to The Times on Wednesday. According to the publication, the company will lay off more than 100 of its about 800 employees as part of the programme, which is slated to end on Friday. Online-only firms offer properties for sale or rent, but owners do the majority of the work.
This year has seen a number of key management changes, including the appointment of Dominique Highfield as the company’s new chief financial officer (CFO) in October. Steve Long, the previous CFO, resigned after only nine months in the position.
The CFO change comes at a difficult time for the agency, as one of its top-10 shareholders, Lecram Holdings, demanded the dismissal of chairman Paul Pindar just hours after the company disclosed its first annual deficit since the pre-pandemic 2019 fiscal year in August.
