Simon Nixon sells final stake in Moneysupermarket for £124 million

If anyone was strutting down the High Street today, it was probably Simon Nixon.

The entrepreneur who founded price-comparison website moneysupermarket.com has sold his remaining stake in the business, which advertised itself with a middle-aged man in hotpants.

Nixon today pocketed £124 million from the sale of the 6.9% holding, sending shares down 5.4% to 325p.

The business was started by Nixon in 1999 after he dropped out of an accountancy course he found “too boring”.

It floated in 2007 and Nixon has sold almost £551 million of shares in it in the past two years, catapulting the 46-year-old into the UK’s billionaire rankings.

Nixon’s previous sale, in December, raised £98 million, after which the shares fell by 7%.

The business is known for its cheeky ads featuring those feeling “epic” after using its service.

Nixon said last year he intends to concentrate on other ventures, including a holiday website called Simonescapes.com, which features his luxury holiday homes.

In 2012, Moneysupermarket bought rival website MoneySavingExpert from founder Martin Lewis for £80 million.