Famous horse owner who built up £1.3billion company watches it sell for just £1

A FAMOUS horse owner who built up a £1.3billion company with his brother has seen it sell for just £1.

Kenny Bruce set up online estate agent Purplebricks with sibling Michael in 2012 and turned it into a behemoth, once registering a sale every 16 minutes.

PacemakerBruce was really making a name for himself as a horse owner thanks to the success of Purplebricks – but the company he founded with his brother has been sold for just £1[/caption]

Bruce put some of his cash in some decent horses, some of which went onto win at Royal Ascot.

Inver Park was one. Bruce sold the gelding just three months before he went onto claim the £50,000 Buckingham Palace Stakes at the big summer meeting.

But it was Pink Sheets who proved the most valuable.

Bruce had horses in training with former Newcastle forward Mick Quinn.

The three teamed up to land a Listed race at Newbury in November 2020, beating Nicky Henderson’s subsequent Listed mares’ novices’ hurdle winner Ahorsewithnoname.

Pink Sheets was meant to run at Cheltenham Festival but got injured.

Quinn recalled how he and Kenny came to be a couple of years ago.

He said: “I met Kenny in Tenerife about nine or ten years ago.

“He’s a football fan and he came to the yard and ended up with a third in one horse and leg in another, and he’s as enthusiastic as me when it comes to racing, which is very hard!

“We were a few months into it and he called me saying he was embarrassed he had to sell his shares.

“I said it wasn’t a problem and I’d shake his hand on the way in and on the way out, but he said he’d definitely be back.

“He needed every penny to start a new business, which was Purplebricks, and then true to his word a few years ago he called and said he was back, so we bought some more horses.”

Over the past five years Bruce toasted 17 winners from 155 runs in all, with 28 further placed efforts contributing to earnings of more than £130,000.

However, those figures now look massive in comparison to what Purplebricks was sold for.

The company put itself up for sale in February after a series of profit warnings.

After negotiations it was agreed it would be sold to rivals Strike for just £1.

The BBC said the paltry sum was down to the company burning through cash at a rapid rate.

A report on their website claimed the firm was spending £3m per month on costs including staff, hosting and marketing.