Hotgroup online managing director Harvey Sinclair is leaving the company he founded in search of greener pastures, just six months after Trinity Mirror acquired the online and offline recruitment organisation.

Sources close to Sinclair told Recruiter that he plans to leave at the end of March, despite Trinity Mirror bosses reportedly exploring new possibilities for him.

Sinclair is said to want “greater control over his own destiny”, and hopes to work in a more entrepreneurial environment instead of a large corporation.

His role as managing director of Hotgroup's online business has not changed since the £50.5 million acquisition, the source said.

Sinclair and his family members held a 7% equity stake in Hotgroup, amounting to about £3.53m of

the sale price, not counting his personal options, when it was sold last year. Sinclair is said also to be set to receive “a good package” on his departure.

He now plans to move out of recruitment, and is looking for “a top role in a second- or third-phase growth business, consolidation opportunities within fragmented sectors or the chance to turn around ailing companies”.

According to the same source, Sinclair is considering work across the leisure, entertainment, media, new media, technology, hospitality and travel sectors.

Since Sinclair founded Hotgroup in 1999, the company has acquired and integrated 12 other businesses, employing about 200 staff and raising more than £25m in equity.

Trinity Mirror confirmed Sinclair's impending departure, and praised his “unique and defining contribution” to the business, adding: “We wish him well for the future.”