Former dunnhumby MD to run moneysupermarket.com

by Noelle McElhatton, Marketing Direct 18-Dec-08, 14:30

Peter Plumb, former managing director of Tesco data house dunnhumby, is to become chief executive of price comparison website moneysupermarket.com. He succeeds Simon Nixon, the founder of moneysupermarket.com, who is resigning as CEO of the business less than two years after it was floated.

Plumb worked as a consultant for moneysupermarket before joining the group last month to run its financial services business. Dunnhumby, majority owned by Tesco, manages the data requirements of the grocer's Clubcard.

Nixon, 41, who established moneysupermarket in 1999, will become executive deputy chairman from February 25 next year. He plans to work one day a week at the company, giving him time to pursue other internet start-ups and business ventures.

Gerald Corbett, moneysupermarket's chairman, said that the management shake-up was part of a "professionalisation" of the group.

Moneysupermarket has suffered in the past 12 months as a result of the credit crunch. It floated in the summer of 2007 at 170p a share, valuing the group at £843 million but since then its stock has collapsed, closing yesterday at 49p, giving it a market capitalisation of just over £246million.