Rightmove boss's wife swoops on shares purchase

Shortly after selling nearly half his shares in Rightmove, netting himself £8m in the process, managing director Ed Williams has revealed that his wife has bought a large number within the last few days.

Earlier this month, Williams sold 1.14m shares at an average price of 699.99p per share – a 1% stake in the company. It left him holding 1,271,927 shares, worth around 1.1% of the company.

Two days ago, Williams notified Rightmove under disclosure and transparency rules, that on June 28 his wife, Joanna Barkwill, purchased 75,964 ordinary shares at an average price of 653.6241p per share – costing her almost £500,000.

After the share price fell yesterday to 626.75p, the value of her purchase is down about £20,000.

The fall – although in line with a bad day for stocks overall – came after Rightmove once again purchased its own shares. It has been buying in each of the last three trading days, purchasing 315,540 shares costing the company some £2m.
 
Following his wife’s purchase, the beneficial shareholding of Williams is 1,347,891 ordinary shares, representing 1.18% of the ordinary shares in Rightmove.

Williams also holds options over 2,194,345 ordinary shares and deferred share awards over 39,205 ordinary shares.