Travel and voucher website pioneer joins Purplebricks board

Purplebricks backer Axel Springer has replaced its representative on the board of the beleaguered online estate agent.

A stockmarket update yesterday said Ait Voncke has joined the Purplebricks board as a non-executive director. 

He replaces Dr Stephanie Caspar, who steps down from the Board after two years.

Voncke joined AVIV Group, which comprises Axel Springer's online classifieds offering for real estate, as chief executive in January 2021.  

Prior to AVIV, he served as senior vice president and general manager at Expedia Group after being a part of the founding team of Groupon in Europe. 

He began his career at Accenture where he spent more than a decade advising technology companies globally and latterly founding the internet, media and technology team for Accenture in Austria.
 

Paul Pindar, chairman of Purplebricks, said: "I would like to welcome Ait to the board of Purplebricks. Ait's background and experience in the real estate sector will bring additional strategic insights and contributions to the company. 

“I would also like to thank Stephanie for her service over the last 2 years on the Purplebricks board.”

It comes as Purplebricks prepares to release its delayed 2021 annual results at the start of next month.

The agency brand issued a trading update in May where it warned that losses may reach almost £9m.

Purplebricks said that it has seen a continuation of lower volumes of new instructions coming to market since announcing its interim results in January.