Stephen Lansdown nets £50m from Hargreaves share sale

Hargreaves Lansdown co-founder Stephen Lansdown has sold 5.5m shares in the wealth manager, bringing his stake in the company down below 20%.

Lansdown (pictured), whose personal wealth now reportedly stands at £900m, sold the shares yesterday afternoon to crystallise some of the huge gains seen in Hargreaves' share price over the past year. Having stepped down from the company's board last November, Lansdown has now reduced his stake in the business from 20.5% to 18.9%, or from 95.5m to 90m shares. With Hargreaves shares having traded at between 955p and 978p yesterday, the sale translates into a gain of around £53m. The FTSE 100-listed company's shares have risen by over 90% over the past 12 months to reach a new record...