Zoopla boss steps down

ZPG, owner of the UK’s most trusted digital brands including Zoopla, uSwitch, Money, PrimeLocation and Hometrack, today announces that its founder & CEO, Alex Chesterman OBE, will step back from day to day operations with effect from the end of September.

ZPG was acquired in July for £2.2bn by Silver Lake Partners, a US private equity firm specialising in technology investments. Alex will remain on the Board of ZPG and as a significant investor and will focus on advising the Board on product, strategy and M&A opportunities.

ZPG’s Property division, which includes marketing (Zoopla, PrimeLocation & SmartNewHomes), software (Alto, Jupix & ExpertAgent) and data businesses (Hometrack & Calcasa) will continue to be run by divisional Managing Director, Charlie Bryant, formerly CEO of Hometrack. ZPG’s Comparison division, which includes uSwitch and Money, will be run by newly appointed divisional Managing Director, Tariq Syed.

ZPG was founded in 2007 by Alex Chesterman and over the past 10 years has grown its annual revenues and EBITDA to over £300m and over £120m respectively. Alex is one of the UK’s leading digital entrepreneurs as well as one of the country’s most prolific angel investors, having backed dozens of digital start-ups including Graze, Secret Escapes, SportPursuit, Uniplaces, Carwow, Swoon, Perkbox, WeSwap, Thriva, Farmdrop, Motorway, Tide, Farewill, Cleo and many more and he was awarded an OBE for services to digital entrepreneurship in 2016.

Alex Chesterman OBE, Founder & CEO of ZPG said, “After ten years of developing and growing ZPG into a multi-billion pound market-leading business, now is the right time for me to step back. I am incredibly proud of what the team has achieved, having transformed the markets we operate in for both our consumers and partners. ZPG has enormous potential to grow further and I look forward to remaining involved with the Company as a board member, investor and strategic adviser as well as being able to focus more time on some of my other investments and interests.”