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Wikipedia

Sotheby's

April 07, 2023

Sotheby's (/ˈsʌðəˌbiːz/) is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and maintains a significant presence in the UK.[2]

Sotheby's
Sotheby’s worldwide headquarters on York Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan
TypePrivate
IndustryFine arts, rare objects
Founded11 March 1744; 279 years ago (1744-03-11)
Headquarters1334 York Avenue[1],
New York City
,
US
Number of locations
80 locations in 40 countries (as of 2021)[2]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Charles F. Stewart (CEO), Patrick Drahi (Owner)
ServicesAuctions, financial services
SubsidiariesSotheby's Institute of Art, Sotheby's International Realty, RM Sotheby's
Websitewww.sothebys.com

Sotheby's was established on 11 March 1744 in London by Samuel Baker, a bookseller. In 1767 the firm became Baker & Leigh, after George Leigh became a partner, and was renamed to Leigh and Sotheby in 1778 after Baker's death when Leigh's nephew, John Sotheby, inherited Leigh's share. Other former names include: Leigh, Sotheby and Wilkinson;[5] Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge (1864–1924); Sotheby and Company (1924–83);[6] Mssrs Sotheby; Sotheby & Wilkinson; Sotheby Mak van Waay; and Sotheby's & Co.[5]

The American holding company was initially incorporated in August 1983 in Michigan as Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. In June 2006, it was reincorporated in the State of Delaware and was renamed Sotheby's.[7] In July 2016, Chinese insurance company Taikang Life became Sotheby's largest shareholder.[8] In June 2019, Sotheby's announced that it was being acquired by French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi at a 61% market premium.[9][10]

Sotheby's Institute of Art (an educational facility), Sotheby's International Realty (real estate dealers), and RM Sotheby's (classic car dealers) are subsidiaries or partner organisations.[11]

History

Beginnings (18th & 19th century)

 
A book sale in progress at Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge of Wellington Street, London, 1888

Sotheby's was established on 11 March 1744 in London by Samuel Baker, a bookseller. In 1767 the firm became Baker & Leigh,[5][12] after Samuel Baker auctioned several hundred valuable books from the library of The Rt Hon Sir John Stanley, 1st Baronet, of Grangegorman and became business partners with George Leigh.[12][13] The library Napoleon took with him into exile at St Helena, as well as the library collections of John Wilkes, Benjamin Heywood Bright and the Dukes of Devonshire and of Buckingham (both related to George Leigh), were sold through Samuel Baker's auctions.[12]

After Baker's death in 1778, the business was left to Leigh and his nephew John Sotheby,[5] where it became a prominent book auction house and was renamed Leigh and Sotheby.[13]

George Leigh died in 1816, but not before recruiting Samuel E Leigh into the business.[14] Under the Sotheby family, the auction house extended its activities to auctioning prints, medals, and coins.[15][12] John Wilkinson, Sotheby's Senior Accountant, became a partner and eventually the company's new head of the company when the last member of the Sotheby family died in 1861.[16]

20th century

The business did not seek to auction fine arts initially.[6] Their first major success in this field was the sale of a Frans Hals painting for nine thousand guineas in 1913.[17] Other former names include: Leigh, Sotheby and Wilkinson;[5] Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge (1864–1924); Sotheby and Company (1924–83);[6] Mssrs Sotheby; Sotheby & Wilkinson; Sotheby Mak van Waay; and Sotheby's & Co.[5] In 1917, Sotheby's relocated from 13 Wellington Street to 34–35 New Bond Street, which remains as its London base to this day.[6] They soon came to rival Christie's as leaders of the London auction market, which capitalised on the arts.[18] In 1964, Sotheby's purchased Parke-Bernet, the largest auctioneer of fine art in the United States at the time.[6] In the following year, Sotheby's moved to 980 Madison Avenue, New York.[19] With the international fine art auction industry growing, Sotheby's opened offices in Paris[20] and Los Angeles in 1967,[21] and became the first auction house to operate in Hong Kong in 1973,[22] and Moscow in 1988.[23]

As well as numerous high-profile real life auctions being held at Sotheby's, the firm's auctioneers have also been used in various films, including the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy.[24]

With private transactions constituting an essential and increasingly profitable business segment, through the years Sotheby's has bought art galleries and helped dealers finance purchases. It has also gone into partnership with dealers on private sales.[25] In 1990, Sotheby's teamed up with dealer William Acquavella, to form Acquavella Modern Art, a Nevada general partnership[26] and a subsidiary of Sotheby's Holding Company. The subsidiary paid $143 million for the contents of the Pierre Matisse Gallery in Manhattan, which included about 2,300 works by such artists as Miró, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, and Marc Chagall, and began selling the works both at auction and privately.[27] In 1996, Sotheby's acquired Andre Emmerich Gallery to operate a division called Emmerich/Sotheby's,[27] and in 1997 it purchased a 50% interest in Deitch Projects.[28] As a consequence, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, the main beneficiary of the artists' estates, as well as the estates of Morris Louis and Milton Avery announced that they would not renew their Emmerich contracts.[29] That decision came right after it was disclosed that Sotheby's had decided to close Emmerich's prime space at 41 East 57th Street, and that its artists would be handled out of Deitch Projects.[30] Sotheby's subsequently closed Andre Emmerich in 1998 and later sold its share in Deitch Projects back to Jeffrey Deitch. In 2006, Sotheby's acquired a Dutch dealership, Noortman Master Paintings, from its owner, Robert Noortman, for $82.5 million ($56.5 million worth of Sotheby's stock and assumption of more than $26 million in gallery debt, including $11.7 million owed to the auction house).[28][31] Sotheby's and Noortman had collaborated before in 1995, when the sales of Dutch plastic millionaire Joost Ritman were divided between the two companies.[32] Already in 1990, Sotheby's New York had successfully lobbied for a zoning change permitting the construction of a 27-story residential tower above the five-story headquarters; this expansion was never realised. Instead, Sotheby's throughout the 1990s expressed interest in sites that ranged from the old Alexander's building on East 59th Street to the New York Coliseum site on Columbus Circle, and was even considering moving into the old B. Altman Building on Fifth Avenue.[33]

21st century

The company eventually bought its York Avenue building for $11 million in 2000 and completed a $140 million expansion and renovation in 2001,[34] adding six floors and 240,000 square feet. The renovation added the capability to store works on the same premises as the specialist departments, galleries, and auction spaces. Sotheby's New York's offices also house Sotheby's Wine[35] and the former Bid (an American contemporary restaurant and later bistro), which was closed due to poor attendance.[36] The company sold the building in 2002 for $175 million.[34] In May 2007, Sotheby's opened an office in Moscow in response to rapidly growing interest among Russian buyers in the international art market and held sales in Qatar in 2009.[37]

 
Sotheby's office on New Bond Street, London.

As many industries took a blow from the economic crisis of 2008, the art market also saw a contraction. In international figures, art prices fell by 7.5% in Q1 of 2008 in comparison to the previous quarter. In September and October 2008, major auction houses saw a sharp decline in sales: , the world leader in art market information, coined the term "Black October". Sotheby's bought-in rate was 27%, Christie's was 45% and Phillips de Pury's was 46%. However, the total values of global and United States Fine Art auction sales were US$8.3 billion and US$2.9 billion, respectively.[38] In 2009, art collector Steven A. Cohen built a 6 percent stake in the auction house for his hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors.[39]

In 2011, Noortman's Amsterdam space was closed and the gallery moved to London.[40][41] Two years later, Sotheby's closed Noortmans, after having written down $8.3 million of inventory and started selling off lower-valued works of art through other auction houses.[40] As of 2021, Sotheby's is present in over 40 countries, with 80 locations.[2] In 2012, the company signed a 10-year joint-venture agreement to form Sotheby's (Beijing) Auction Co. Ltd., the first international auction house in China; under the agreement, it invested $1.2 million to take an 80 percent stake in the venture with state-owned Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group.[42]

As of 2012, the firm had an annual revenue of approximately US$831.8 million[43] and offices on Manhattan's York Avenue and London's New Bond Street.[citation needed]

Sotheby's shares a rivalry with Christie's for the position of the world's pre-eminent fine art auctioneer, a title of much subjectivity. In August 2004, Sotheby's introduced an online system – MySotheby's – allowing clients to track lots and create "wishlists" that could be automatically updated as new works became available. Sotheby's also created the BIDnow service, which allows bidders to bid real-time online while watching the broadcast auctions, with the exception of Wine auctions. LiveBid is Sotheby's online bidding system exclusively for wine auctions.[44]

In the meantime, income from classic auctioneering has fallen, as Sotheby's reported a decrease of 42% in net income in the first half of 2012.[45]

In February 2015 Sotheby's acquired a 25% stake in classic and vintage automobile auctioneer RM Auctions.[46]

On 17 March 2015, it was announced that Tad Smith, former president and chief executive of New York's Madison Square Garden,[47] would succeed William F. Ruprecht as CEO of Sotheby's.[48] Smith had no experience in the auction industry but had overseen a doubling of profits during his time at Madison Square Garden.[49] In 2015, the auction house's longest serving auctioneer, David Redden, and Vice-Chairman retired.[50]

In 2016, the company spent sent shockwaves through the trade after spending $50 million on Art Agency Partners, run by Amy Cappellazzo, Allan Schwartzman and Adam Chinn. The price was shared among the trio, as well as $35 million performance-related bonus.[51] The five year contract expired in 2021.[52]

On 25 January 2018, Sotheby's acquired the AI company Thread Genius for an undisclosed amount.[53]

In February 2019, Sotheby's announced a redesign and expansion of its New York headquarters on the Upper East Side that is being led by the designer Shohei Shigematsu of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). The exhibition space there will grow to over 90,000 square feet from 67,000, and the project will include the addition of several new galleries.[54]

In 2019, Sotheby's introduced an online valuations platform to their website to facilitate the provision of estimates.[55]

In June 2019, Sotheby's announced that it was being acquired by French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi at a 61% market premium.[9][10] On 28 October 2019, Sotheby's named Charles F. Stewart as their new CEO. Sotheby's former CEO Tad Smith transitioned to an advisory role.[56]

In 2020, Sotheby’s overtook Christie’s as the world’s top auction house for the first time since 2011, with over $5 billion in aggregate sales compared to its rival’s $4.4 billion.[57]

As of late 2021, Drahi’s son, Nathan Drahi, is the managing director of Sotheby’s Asia.[58]

Public trading

 
York Avenue headquarters, New York City.

Sotheby's became a UK public company in 1977.[59] In 1980, after a drop in sales,[60] Sotheby's relocated its North American headquarters from Madison Avenue to a former cigar factory[34] at 1334 York Avenue, New York. The auction house closed its Madison Avenue galleries at East 76th Street. The Los Angeles galleries were sold and West Coast auctions moved to New York.[61]

The following year, a group of investors (including American millionaire Alfred Taubman) purchased and privatized Sotheby's.[62] Sotheby's was initially incorporated as Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. in Michigan in August 1983.[7] In 1988, Taubman took Sotheby's public and listed the company's shares on the New York Stock Exchange, making Sotheby's the oldest publicly traded company on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "BID".[63] In June 2006, Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. reincorporated in the State of Delaware and was renamed Sotheby's shortly after.[64][7]

After Sotheby’s was acquired & taken private by Patrick Drahi for $3.7 billion in 2019, the company is no longer available for public trading on the New York Stock Exchange.[65]

Auction process

Main article: Auction

Sotheby's auctions are usually held during the day. The majority are free and open to the public, with the exception of occasional evening auctions, which require tickets. Attendees have no obligation to bid.[66]

Bidding finishes when only one bidder remains willing to purchase the lot at the bidder's declared price. The auctioneer "knocks down" the lot, declaring it sold to the winning bidder. The winning bid for a lot is also called the hammer price. Sotheby's organises the delivery of the lot in private with the buyer.

Buying

Buyers can find out what is for sale at Sotheby's by browsing e-catalogues, visiting pre-sale exhibitions, purchasing print catalogues and registering for e-mail alerts.[67] Buyers can register to bid in person at Sotheby's offices, or online. Sotheby's requires that prospective buyers provide government-issued proof of identity and sometimes a bank reference. There are four ways buyers can bid: in person at the auction rooms, by telephone, bid live online or make an absentee bid online. When a bid is successful, Sotheby's calculates and sums the hammer price, the buyer's premium and taxes.

Selling

Sellers are required to submit an Auction Estimate Form, providing thorough information and a photograph of the item. Once accepted for auction, the seller and Sotheby's sign a contract, which sets out the reserve price and the seller's commission.[68] If bidding on a seller's lot does not reach the reserve price, the item is not sold.

Service categories

 
HK Central Landmark 朱銘 Ju Ming art exhibition interior Sotheby's

As of April 2021, Sotheby's lists the following services:[69]

  • Advisory
  • Fiduciary client group
  • Global partnerships
  • Financial services/lending
  • Fine art storage
  • Post sale services
  • Private sales
  • Restitution
  • Scientific research
  • Tax, heritage and UK museums
  • Valuations
  • Wine advisory services
Private sales

Sotheby's links sellers with prospective buyers in private if sellers do not want a public auction. The identities of buyers and consignors are not disclosed.[70] Sotheby's Private Sales works with clients with confidentiality and tailors the buying and selling process in a private setting. Private Sales accounted for 16.5% of all Sotheby's sales in 2011.[71] That year, Sotheby's inaugurated a new gallery space called S2 at its York Avenue headquarters with a show of work by American abstract painter Sam Francis. Unlike Haunch of Venison, a gallery that Christie's bought in 2007, S2 is solely devoted to showcasing the auction house's private sales.[72] In 2013, Sotheby's opened a gallery for private sales close to its branch in London, in a five-story block at 31 George Street.[73] The auction house also conducts private sales through its selling exhibitions of monumental sculpture at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, and at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.[73]

Financial services

Established in 1988, Sotheby's Financial Services offers loans for consigned property and loans against the value of client's items through customized terms.[74] The auction house also makes term loans, for a defined period of time, on works that clients aren't planning to sell, in part to "establish or enhance mutually beneficial relationships with borrowers" that can lead to future consignments.[75] While traditional lenders such as banks provide loans at a lower cost to borrowers, Sotheby's said in its 2011 annual report, few will accept works of art as the sole collateral.[75]

Picture library

Sotheby's Picture Library contained images in a variety of formats available for licensing,[76] and was one of the image suppliers to various databases such as the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA).[77][78] However, only the image archive mentioned on the Sotheby's website as of April 2021 is an out-of-date reference to the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive,[79] which Cecil Beaton sold to Sotheby's in 1977.[80]

Wine

In October 2019, Sotheby's launched Sotheby's Own Label Collection, a line of a dozen wines. The project took two years to complete, and is based on Sotheby's best-selling wines, both those represented in-store and on its e-commerce platform. Additionally, the collection reflects some of the long-standing relationships Sotheby's has with producers around the world.[81] The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia has been published in several editions since 1988, written by Tom Stevenson.

Other

Sotheby's has produced a bimonthly online magazine since November–December 2018, Sotheby's Magazine.[82]

Partners and subsidiaries

Sotheby's Institute of Art

Main article: Sotheby's Institute of Art

In 1969, Sotheby's founded Sotheby's Institute of Art in London.[83] The Institute now offers full-time accredited master's degrees as well as a range of online and other courses.[84]

Sotheby's International Realty

Main article: Sotheby's International Realty

Sotheby's International Realty is a luxury real estate brand founded in 1976 by Sotheby's. It operates as a franchise.

RM Sotheby's

Main article: RM Sotheby's

RM Sotheby's deals in classic cars, headquartered in Canada with offices across the US and Europe. Formerly RM Auctions, the company has been part-owned by Sotheby's since 2015.

Sotheby’s Prize

The Sotheby's Prize, launched in 2017, is a $250,000 annual award given to museums that exhibit what are vaguely described as "groundbreaking shows".[85] The inaugural winners were Many Tongues: Art, Language and Revolution in the Middle East and South Asia curated by Omer Kholeif of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Pop América: Contesting Freedom, 1965–1975 curated by Esther Gabara of the Nasher Museum.[85] The Sotheby's Prize program concluded in 2020, following a promise to honor existing commitments to shows that are still in formation.[86]

Notable sales

Auctioned artwork

 
Hispano J12 1933 coach Pourtout—Sotheby's 1989

Sotheby's has set, then later reset, a number of world records for auctioned works of art. The following monetary values are given in United States dollars.

  • On 22 May 2002, Norman Rockwell's painting of Rosie the Riveter was sold for $4.96 million.
  • On 3 May 2006, Sotheby's auctioned Pablo Picasso's Dora Maar au Chat for $95 million, becoming the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction at that time.
  • On 7 June 2007, a Roman-era bronze sculpture of Artemis and the Stag was sold at Sotheby's for $28.6 million, setting the new record as the most expensive sculpture as well as work from antiquity ever sold at auction at that time.
  • Sotheby's holds the world record for most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold at auction, with Mark Rothko's 1950 White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose), grossing $72.8 million in May 2007.
  • Sotheby's set a new world record, at that time, for the most expensive auctioned work by a living artist, bringing in $17 million at a November 1986 auction of Out the Window by Jasper Johns, the first auction over $10 million in this category.
    • While Sotheby's and Christie's surpassed each other over time, Sotheby's reclaimed the record with the first auction over $20 million in this category, Jeff Koons' Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold), which grossed $23.6 million in a November 2007 sale.
    • Sotheby's retook this record, at that time, on 12 October 2012, with the first auction over $30 million in this category, when a 1994 painting from the Abstraktes Bilder series by Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (809–4), was sold for $34 million.
  • On 6 December 2007, Sotheby's auctioned the Guennol Lioness, a 31⁄4-inch limestone lion from ancient Mesopotamia. It is thought to be at least 5,000 years old. It was sold for $57 million, fetching the highest price ever paid for at an auction for a sculpture.[87]
  • On 15 December 2007, Sotheby's auctioned one of only seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, written by J. K. Rowling. The book was purchased for a hammer price of $3.8 million. Each leather bound copy was hand written and illustrated by Rowling, with six given to her close friends and the seventh sent to auction with proceeds going to The Children's Voice charity.[88]
  • On 19 December 2007, Sotheby's auctioned a 710-year-old copy of the Magna Carta, the last remaining copy in private hands out of the 17 that are known to exist. The copy sold for $21.3 million.[89]
  • On 3 February 2010, the sculpture L'Homme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti sold for $103.7 million at a London auction, at that time setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.[90]
  • On 2 May 2012, a version of the painting The Scream was sold for $119.9 million.
  • On 11 November 2014, the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication became the most expensive watch ever sold at auction, reaching a final price of $23.98 million in Geneva.[91]
  • On 2 June 2016, Pablo Picasso's "Femme Assise" sold for $63.7 million at Sotheby's in London, making it the most expensive Cubist painting ever sold at auction.[92]
  • On 5 October 2018, Banksy's "Girl with a Balloon" began to 'shred' itself shortly after hammering down at the artist's auction record. The work was later sold again with the new title "Love is in the Bin" for £18.5m, an artist's record for Banksy after the previous record of £16.5 million set in March that year.[93]
  • On 14 May 2019, Claude Monet's "Meules" was sold for over $110 million.[94]
  • On 25 October 2021, Sotheby's auctioned 11 Picasso's previously belonging to Steve Wynn for $109 Million in a pop-up salesroom in Las Vegas.[95]

Sneaker sales

In recent years, Sotheby's has been selling sneakers, both vintage designs in a "buy-now" sneaker shop,[96] and high-value pairs, some worn by famous people, by auction. Sneaker auctions have brought in large numbers new to Sotheby's, from as young as 19 years old and across the world.[97] Notable auction record-breaking sales include:

  • July 2019, Nike 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat "Moon Shoe", US$437,500[97][98]
  • 17 May 2020, Michael Jordan’s autographed Nike "Air Jordan 1"s from 1985 sold for US$560,000[97][98][99]
  • April 2021, Nike Air Yeezy 1 worn by Kanye West at the 2008 Grammy Awards, US$1.8 million. This was the first pair of sneakers reported anywhere selling for more than US$1 million.[100][99] They were bought by the specialist sneaker-investing platform RARES.[101]

Jewelry

On 9 July 2021, Sotheby's sold a 101.38-carat diamond for $12.3 million in cryptocurrency. The sale became the most expensive physical object ever publicly offered for purchase with cryptocurrency at the time.[102]

Controversies

Illegal antiquities

Further information: Cultural repatriation

1990s scandal

In 1997, a Channel 4 Dispatches programme alleged that Sotheby's had been trading in antiquities with no published provenance, and that the organisation continued to use dealers involved in the smuggling of artefacts.[103] From the late 1980s through to the early 1990s, the antiquities department in London was managed by Brendan Lynch and Oliver Forge. Lynch travelled to India frequently and bought unprovenanced pieces from Vaman Ghiya in Rajasthan, which turned out to be stolen from temples and other sites. British historian and journalist Peter Watson wrote Sotheby’s: The Inside Story (1997), outlining these illicit activities, which he also exposed on CBS’s 60 Minutes. As a result of this exposé, Sotheby's commissioned their own report into illegal antiquities, and made assurances that only legal items with published provenance would be traded in the future.[104] It ceased its regular Asian art sales in London said that they would henceforth only be selling Asian pieces from New York, where their legitimacy could be better monitored. Forge and Lynch were removed from their posts but never charged, and they opened a consultancy in London[105] and continued to trade.[106]

In India, Ghiya was eventually arrested in 2003, only convicted in 2008 and sentenced to life in prison; however, in 2014 an Indian High Court quashed the conviction. Some of the illicit Asian pieces found their way to the National Gallery of Australia, and from there a piece known as "Dancing Shiva" found its way to the Art Gallery of South Australia.[106] After doubts were raised and the piece became the object of an investigation beginning in 2014, it was established that it was most likely a stolen piece,[107] and was repatriated to India in 2019.[108]

Cambodian statue (2012)

In 2012, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved to seize a 10th-century Cambodian sandstone statue from Sotheby's,[109] alleging in a civil complaint before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that the company had put the work up for auction "despite knowing that it had been stolen from a temple"[110] in Koh Ker.[111]

Price-fixing scandal (2000)

In February 2000, A. Alfred Taubman and Diana (Dede) Brooks, the CEO of the company, stepped down amidst a price fixing scandal. The FBI had been investigating auction practices in which it was revealed that collusion involving commission fixing between Christie's and Sotheby's was occurring. In October 2000, Brooks admitted her guilt in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence, implicating Taubman.[112][113] In December 2001, jurors in a high-profile New York City courtroom found Taubman guilty of conspiracy. He served ten months of a one-year sentence in prison, while Brooks received a six-month home confinement and a penalty of US$350,000. Sotheby's was sentenced to pay a fine of US$45 million.[114] No staff from Christie's were charged.[115][116]

Growing out of the four-year criminal antitrust investigation by the United States Department of Justice, some 130,000 buyers and sellers filed class-action lawsuit, arguing they were cheated in the price-fixing conspiracy by Sotheby's and Christie's.[117] In 2001, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York gave final approval to a US$512 million agreement.[118] The structure of the settlement was said to have helped stave off insolvency for both companies, especially the publicly held Sotheby's.[119][120]

At the time of the scandal, 59 percent of the company's Class A shares were owned by Baron Funds.[121]

Auction error (2011)

On 10 March 2011, Sotheby's sold a pair of sconces incorrectly attributed to Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann.[122]

Artists' authorship rights (2012)

In 2012, art dealer Marc Jancou filed suit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, suing both Sotheby's and artist Cady Noland after the auction house pulled a work he had consigned by the artist from a sale, apparently at her request. The suit argued that this presented a breach of the consignment agreement. Noland had told Sotheby's there were problems with the condition of her painting Cowboys Milking (1990), estimated to sell for between US$260,000 and $350,000. Jancou sued Sotheby's for US$6 million in compensatory damages, and Noland for US$20 million in punitive damages.[123] Both Sotheby's and Noland argued withdrawing the work from auction was well within the artist's rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) and New York's Artists' Authorship Rights Act (AARA).[124]

Industrial dispute (2015)

Sotheby's London auction house had outsourced its cleaning and other support services to Contract Cleaning and Maintenance (London) Limited (CCML). In early 2015, the UVW union initiated a formal trade dispute over low pay, insufficient sick pay, and issues summarised in an Early Day Motion signed by 24 Members of Parliament, highlighting:[125]

the unwarranted suspension of a porter following a grievance he made about poor treatment, the refusal to stop using certain chemicals which leave cleaners with breathing difficulties, chest pains and rashes, the unwarranted deduction of wages and working hours, overworking and shouting at porters and cleaners, reprimanding a porter for using the toilet outside his official break time, threatening a cleaner with suspension for not being clean shaven

After CCML conceded the majority of UVW's demands, Sotheby's decided to contract all support services to a new company, Servest. This backfired when UVW staged a noisy, sit-down protest outside the Sotheby's entrance[126] while clients arrived for a record-breaking summer night of contemporary art auctions, including lots by Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon.[127] Four workers were suspended and investigated for their involvement in the protest,[128] which led to another Early Day Motion signed by 42 MPs, condemning:[129]

that Sotheby's and Servest consider peaceful protest to be an act of misconduct; further condemns Sotheby's decision to ban from the site cleaners and porters who took part in a lawful, peaceful protest to call for a real Living Wage, contractual sick pay and an end to trade union victimisation

With only two of the four workers reinstated, another UVW protest disrupted a Sotheby's classic car auction in London's Battersea.[130] In February 2016 it was announced that Sotheby's and Servest had reached an agreement to pay all outsourced workers the London Living Wage and improved sick pay.[131]

Alleged misleading of traders (2016–2019)

In 2016, three New York art traders – Warren Adelson, president of Adelson Galleries, as well as New York-based art dealers Alexander Parish and Robert Simon – planned to sue Sotheby's for alleged fraud over the resale of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, which they sold through Sotheby's in 2013 for $80 million.[132][133] After learning that the buyer of the painting, Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier, sold it on to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for $127.5 million, the traders felt deceived by the auction house as to the painting's true value.[132] According to court papers, the traders inquired whether Sotheby's knew the art work could have been sold for more, and whether they were "misled into selling the work for a smaller amount by Sotheby’s because Bouvier is an esteemed client."[134][135] The auction house has denied knowing that Rybolovlev was the intended buyer, and sought to dismiss the lawsuit pre-emptively.[134]

In a related development, Rybolovlev sued Sotheby's for $380 million in damages for this alleged collusion with Yves Bouvier in 2018, claiming the company "materially assisted the largest art fraud in history",[136] due to Sotheby's vice chairman of private sales worldwide writing "bullish assessments, which Bouvier forwarded to Rybolovlev’s team, about some of the same artworks that Bouvier bought privately through Sotheby’s and flipped to the Russian at higher prices."[137] Rybolovlev alleged that Yves Bouvier defrauded him out of $1 billion through this practice, over several years.[138] Sotheby's dismissed these allegations as "entirely without merit" and stated it would seek to have the case thrown out.[139]

However, on 25 June 2019, a US federal court denied Sotheby's request to have the case dismissed, arguing that "although there is parallel litigation ongoing in Switzerland, Sotheby’s fails to establish that there are 'exceptional circumstances' justifying dismissal."[140][141] The court also issued an order for Sotheby's to submit all previously confidential information relating to the litigation and rejected the auction house's request to redact specific details from court documents.[142] In a statement, Sotheby's called the court decision "disappointing" and stated it would "vigorously litigate the merits of the case in Switzerland and New York."[142]

On 13 November 2019, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the decision, requiring Sotheby's to hand over the case relevant files.[143] Sotheby's had argued that handing over the documents would breach confidentiality and insisted that because it was named in ongoing proceedings in Switzerland, it should "be shielded from orders to produce the documents," both of which the court rejected.[144]

Activist investors

In 2013 and 2014, Sotheby's was the target of a takeover attempt by activist investor Daniel S. Loeb of Third Point LLC, a registered investment adviser founded in 1995 and headquartered in New York with over $14 billion in assets under management.[145] Third Point began acquiring shares in Sotheby's in February 2013.[145] By July 2013, Loeb's stake in Sotheby's increased to 3.7%, and in August he raised his stake to 5.7%, and requested to talk with the management and board. In July, activists at Marcato Capital Management revealed a 6.6% stake, saying that the shares were undervalued. At that point, Marcato and Third Point were Sotheby's second and third-largest shareholders, following BlackRock Fund Advisors.[146] Third Point's August purchase brought its stake in Sotheby's to 3.9 million shares.[147]

On 2 October, Third Point increased its share of Sotheby's to 9.3 percent and, in a letter to Sotheby's president, CEO, and Chairman William F. Ruprecht, called for a change in management, due to "the company's chronically weak operating margins and deteriorating competitive position relative to Christie's, as evidenced by each of the contemporary and modern art evening sales over the last several years."[148] Loeb wanted the firm to expand globally[149] and offered to "join the Board immediately and to help recruit several new directors".[145]

On 3 October 2013, Sotheby's responded to Third Point's rapid accumulation of Sotheby's stock by announcing its adoption of a shareholder rights plan, known generally as a "poison pill", whereby it forcibly diluted investor holdings in an attempt to ward off a hostile takeover. Third Point described the action as "a disproportionate response" and "a relic from the 1980s".[145][150][151][152][153][154]

Between October 2013 and February 2014, representatives of Sotheby's and Third Point "held a number of in-person and telephonic meetings" in which "they discussed Third Point’s ideas about how to increase stockholder value." At these meetings, Third Point insisted on multiple seats on Sotheby's board; the firm offered only a single seat for Loeb himself.[145][150][151][153][154]

In February 2014, Third Point, which by now was Sotheby's largest stockholder, stated in a filing that it would nominate three people – Loeb, Harry Wilson, and Olivier Reza – to Sotheby's board,[155] saying that current board members "lack the fresh perspective necessary to overhaul the company's challenged operational structure and cure its cultural malaise."[156] Informing Sotheby's formally on 27 February 2014, of its nomination of Loeb, Wilson, and Reza as board candidates, Third Point commended Sotheby's for having taken certain actions that Third Point considered productive, but stated that "there remains much to be done to enhance" the firm's "competitive position, refocus its strategy, and boost stockholder value."[145] It was reported in early March that Marcato would support Third Point's nominees to the board.[157]

On 13 March, a day after Third Point increased its stake in Sotheby's slightly to 9.6%, the firm rejected Third Point's board nominees. Instead, the firm nominated executive Jessica Bibliowicz and former AOL and Univision executive Kevin Conroy.[156][145]

2014: ISS recommendation

On 24 April 2014, the investor shareholder advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that Sotheby's investors should vote for two of the three board members recommended by Daniel Loeb, including himself.[158][159] The second board member recommended by the ISS was Olivier Reza, "a former investment banker whose jeweler family has done business with Sotheby's."[160]

Prior to the ISS recommendation, on 21 April 2014, Mr. Loeb wrote a letter to the Sotheby's board noting the following:

We are convinced that having an owner's perspective in the boardroom yields better results, that this board is in dire need of fresh insights, and that our candidates are more qualified than the company's emissaries we are seeking to replace.[161]

In the report the ISS noted that, "the particulars of their criticisms of things like commission margin, there is credible reason to believe their larger criticism about strategic myopia has some credibility". ISS recommended shareholders vote for Loeb and Olivier Reza and that introducing change into the boardroom was warranted.[160] Writing for The New York Times on 24 April, of 2014, Alexandria Stevenson notes:

Mr. Loeb has accused Sotheby's of rebating the fees its takes for selling multimillion-dollar works, while also taking less of the buyer's fees to attract more business. He has taken issue with the auction house's strategy of focusing on top clients and headline sales. He has even criticized board members' relatively low holdings of their own company’s stock.[160]

Later that day, Sotheby's issued a statement in regards to the report by the ISS:

We believe that Sotheby's shareholders should vote for all of Sotheby's director nominees. We note that ISS rejected one of Third Point's nominees and recommends that shareholders vote for our Say on Pay proposal.[158][162]

On 5 May, Dan Loeb and Sotheby's reached an agreement which stipulated that Dan Loeb, Olivier Reza and Harry J. Wilson joined the board in exchange for Third Point having an ownership cap at 15%, William Ruprecht would stay as CEO and the proxy context to be held at Sotheby's AGM would cease[163][164][165] On the newest board members, Bill Ruprecht, Chairman, President and CEO of Sotheby's noted:

We welcome our newest directors to the Board and look forward to working with them, confident that we share the common goal of delivering the greatest value to Sotheby's clients and shareholders. This agreement ensures that our focus is on the business and that we will benefit from five fresh voices and viewpoints.[166]

2016: Taikang Life Insurance acquires largest stake

Disclosed on 27 July 2016, Chinese insurance company Taikang Life Insurance (Chinese: 中國泰康人壽), run by Chen Dongsheng, the grandson-in-law of Mao Zedong, bought a 13.5% stake in Sotheby's,[8] holding the highest active stake of the auction house.[167]

See also

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Further reading

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sotheby's.
 
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Sotheby, Samuel Leigh
  • "History of Sotheby's Holdings, Inc". FundingUniverse. Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 29. St. James Press, 1999. Includes bibliography.
  • Lacey, Robert (1998). Sotheby's: Bidding For Class. Little Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-51139-0.
  • Learmount, Brian (1985). A history of the auction. Barnard & Learmont. ISBN 0-9510240-0-0.
  • Mason, Christopher (2004). The Art of the Steal. Putnam. ISBN 0-399-15093-5.
  • "Sotheby's". Encyclopedia.com.
  • Watson, Peter (1998). Sotheby's: The Inside Story. Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-41403-2.

External links

  • Official website

Coordinates: 51°30′43″N 0°08′37″W / 51.51194°N 0.14361°W / 51.51194; -0.14361

April 07, 2023
sotheby, british, founded, american, multinational, corporation, with, headquarters, york, city, world, largest, brokers, fine, decorative, jewellery, collectibles, locations, countries, maintains, significant, presence, sotheby, worldwide, headquarters, york,. Sotheby s ˈ s ʌ d e ˌ b iː z is a British founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City It is one of the world s largest brokers of fine and decorative art jewellery and collectibles It has 80 locations in 40 countries and maintains a significant presence in the UK 2 Sotheby sSotheby s worldwide headquarters on York Avenue on the Upper East Side of ManhattanTypePrivateIndustryFine arts rare objectsFounded11 March 1744 279 years ago 1744 03 11 Headquarters1334 York Avenue 1 New York City USNumber of locations80 locations in 40 countries as of 2021 2 Area servedWorldwideKey peopleCharles F Stewart CEO Patrick Drahi Owner ServicesAuctions financial servicesSubsidiariesSotheby s Institute of Art Sotheby s International Realty RM Sotheby sWebsitewww wbr sothebys wbr comSotheby s was established on 11 March 1744 in London by Samuel Baker a bookseller In 1767 the firm became Baker amp Leigh after George Leigh became a partner and was renamed to Leigh and Sotheby in 1778 after Baker s death when Leigh s nephew John Sotheby inherited Leigh s share Other former names include Leigh Sotheby and Wilkinson 5 Sotheby Wilkinson and Hodge 1864 1924 Sotheby and Company 1924 83 6 Mssrs Sotheby Sotheby amp Wilkinson Sotheby Mak van Waay and Sotheby s amp Co 5 The American holding company was initially incorporated in August 1983 in Michigan as Sotheby s Holdings Inc In June 2006 it was reincorporated in the State of Delaware and was renamed Sotheby s 7 In July 2016 Chinese insurance company Taikang Life became Sotheby s largest shareholder 8 In June 2019 Sotheby s announced that it was being acquired by French Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi at a 61 market premium 9 10 Sotheby s Institute of Art an educational facility Sotheby s International Realty real estate dealers and RM Sotheby s classic car dealers are subsidiaries or partner organisations 11 Contents 1 History 1 1 Beginnings 18th amp 19th century 1 2 20th century 1 3 21st century 1 4 Public trading 2 Auction process 2 1 Buying 2 2 Selling 3 Service categories 4 Partners and subsidiaries 4 1 Sotheby s Institute of Art 4 2 Sotheby s International Realty 4 3 RM Sotheby s 5 Sotheby s Prize 6 Notable sales 6 1 Auctioned artwork 6 2 Sneaker sales 6 3 Jewelry 7 Controversies 7 1 Illegal antiquities 7 1 1 1990s scandal 7 1 2 Cambodian statue 2012 7 2 Price fixing scandal 2000 7 3 Auction error 2011 7 4 Artists authorship rights 2012 7 5 Industrial dispute 2015 7 6 Alleged misleading of traders 2016 2019 8 Activist investors 8 1 2014 ISS recommendation 8 2 2016 Taikang Life Insurance acquires largest stake 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External linksHistory EditBeginnings 18th amp 19th century Edit A book sale in progress at Messrs Sotheby Wilkinson amp Hodge of Wellington Street London 1888 Sotheby s was established on 11 March 1744 in London by Samuel Baker a bookseller In 1767 the firm became Baker amp Leigh 5 12 after Samuel Baker auctioned several hundred valuable books from the library of The Rt Hon Sir John Stanley 1st Baronet of Grangegorman and became business partners with George Leigh 12 13 The library Napoleon took with him into exile at St Helena as well as the library collections of John Wilkes Benjamin Heywood Bright and the Dukes of Devonshire and of Buckingham both related to George Leigh were sold through Samuel Baker s auctions 12 After Baker s death in 1778 the business was left to Leigh and his nephew John Sotheby 5 where it became a prominent book auction house and was renamed Leigh and Sotheby 13 George Leigh died in 1816 but not before recruiting Samuel E Leigh into the business 14 Under the Sotheby family the auction house extended its activities to auctioning prints medals and coins 15 12 John Wilkinson Sotheby s Senior Accountant became a partner and eventually the company s new head of the company when the last member of the Sotheby family died in 1861 16 20th century Edit The business did not seek to auction fine arts initially 6 Their first major success in this field was the sale of a Frans Hals painting for nine thousand guineas in 1913 17 Other former names include Leigh Sotheby and Wilkinson 5 Sotheby Wilkinson and Hodge 1864 1924 Sotheby and Company 1924 83 6 Mssrs Sotheby Sotheby amp Wilkinson Sotheby Mak van Waay and Sotheby s amp Co 5 In 1917 Sotheby s relocated from 13 Wellington Street to 34 35 New Bond Street which remains as its London base to this day 6 They soon came to rival Christie s as leaders of the London auction market which capitalised on the arts 18 In 1964 Sotheby s purchased Parke Bernet the largest auctioneer of fine art in the United States at the time 6 In the following year Sotheby s moved to 980 Madison Avenue New York 19 With the international fine art auction industry growing Sotheby s opened offices in Paris 20 and Los Angeles in 1967 21 and became the first auction house to operate in Hong Kong in 1973 22 and Moscow in 1988 23 As well as numerous high profile real life auctions being held at Sotheby s the firm s auctioneers have also been used in various films including the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy 24 With private transactions constituting an essential and increasingly profitable business segment through the years Sotheby s has bought art galleries and helped dealers finance purchases It has also gone into partnership with dealers on private sales 25 In 1990 Sotheby s teamed up with dealer William Acquavella to form Acquavella Modern Art a Nevada general partnership 26 and a subsidiary of Sotheby s Holding Company The subsidiary paid 143 million for the contents of the Pierre Matisse Gallery in Manhattan which included about 2 300 works by such artists as Miro Jean Dubuffet Alberto Giacometti and Marc Chagall and began selling the works both at auction and privately 27 In 1996 Sotheby s acquired Andre Emmerich Gallery to operate a division called Emmerich Sotheby s 27 and in 1997 it purchased a 50 interest in Deitch Projects 28 As a consequence the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation the main beneficiary of the artists estates as well as the estates of Morris Louis and Milton Avery announced that they would not renew their Emmerich contracts 29 That decision came right after it was disclosed that Sotheby s had decided to close Emmerich s prime space at 41 East 57th Street and that its artists would be handled out of Deitch Projects 30 Sotheby s subsequently closed Andre Emmerich in 1998 and later sold its share in Deitch Projects back to Jeffrey Deitch In 2006 Sotheby s acquired a Dutch dealership Noortman Master Paintings from its owner Robert Noortman for 82 5 million 56 5 million worth of Sotheby s stock and assumption of more than 26 million in gallery debt including 11 7 million owed to the auction house 28 31 Sotheby s and Noortman had collaborated before in 1995 when the sales of Dutch plastic millionaire Joost Ritman were divided between the two companies 32 Already in 1990 Sotheby s New York had successfully lobbied for a zoning change permitting the construction of a 27 story residential tower above the five story headquarters this expansion was never realised Instead Sotheby s throughout the 1990s expressed interest in sites that ranged from the old Alexander s building on East 59th Street to the New York Coliseum site on Columbus Circle and was even considering moving into the old B Altman Building on Fifth Avenue 33 21st century Edit The company eventually bought its York Avenue building for 11 million in 2000 and completed a 140 million expansion and renovation in 2001 34 adding six floors and 240 000 square feet The renovation added the capability to store works on the same premises as the specialist departments galleries and auction spaces Sotheby s New York s offices also house Sotheby s Wine 35 and the former Bid an American contemporary restaurant and later bistro which was closed due to poor attendance 36 The company sold the building in 2002 for 175 million 34 In May 2007 Sotheby s opened an office in Moscow in response to rapidly growing interest among Russian buyers in the international art market and held sales in Qatar in 2009 37 Sotheby s office on New Bond Street London As many industries took a blow from the economic crisis of 2008 the art market also saw a contraction In international figures art prices fell by 7 5 in Q1 of 2008 in comparison to the previous quarter In September and October 2008 major auction houses saw a sharp decline in sales artprice com the world leader in art market information coined the term Black October Sotheby s bought in rate was 27 Christie s was 45 and Phillips de Pury s was 46 However the total values of global and United States Fine Art auction sales were US 8 3 billion and US 2 9 billion respectively 38 In 2009 art collector Steven A Cohen built a 6 percent stake in the auction house for his hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors 39 In 2011 Noortman s Amsterdam space was closed and the gallery moved to London 40 41 Two years later Sotheby s closed Noortmans after having written down 8 3 million of inventory and started selling off lower valued works of art through other auction houses 40 As of 2021 update Sotheby s is present in over 40 countries with 80 locations 2 In 2012 the company signed a 10 year joint venture agreement to form Sotheby s Beijing Auction Co Ltd the first international auction house in China under the agreement it invested 1 2 million to take an 80 percent stake in the venture with state owned Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group 42 As of 2012 the firm had an annual revenue of approximately US 831 8 million 43 and offices on Manhattan s York Avenue and London s New Bond Street citation needed Sotheby s shares a rivalry with Christie s for the position of the world s pre eminent fine art auctioneer a title of much subjectivity In August 2004 Sotheby s introduced an online system MySotheby s allowing clients to track lots and create wishlists that could be automatically updated as new works became available Sotheby s also created the BIDnow service which allows bidders to bid real time online while watching the broadcast auctions with the exception of Wine auctions LiveBid is Sotheby s online bidding system exclusively for wine auctions 44 In the meantime income from classic auctioneering has fallen as Sotheby s reported a decrease of 42 in net income in the first half of 2012 45 In February 2015 Sotheby s acquired a 25 stake in classic and vintage automobile auctioneer RM Auctions 46 On 17 March 2015 it was announced that Tad Smith former president and chief executive of New York s Madison Square Garden 47 would succeed William F Ruprecht as CEO of Sotheby s 48 Smith had no experience in the auction industry but had overseen a doubling of profits during his time at Madison Square Garden 49 In 2015 the auction house s longest serving auctioneer David Redden and Vice Chairman retired 50 In 2016 the company spent sent shockwaves through the trade after spending 50 million on Art Agency Partners run by Amy Cappellazzo Allan Schwartzman and Adam Chinn The price was shared among the trio as well as 35 million performance related bonus 51 The five year contract expired in 2021 52 On 25 January 2018 Sotheby s acquired the AI company Thread Genius for an undisclosed amount 53 In February 2019 Sotheby s announced a redesign and expansion of its New York headquarters on the Upper East Side that is being led by the designer Shohei Shigematsu of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture OMA The exhibition space there will grow to over 90 000 square feet from 67 000 and the project will include the addition of several new galleries 54 In 2019 Sotheby s introduced an online valuations platform to their website to facilitate the provision of estimates 55 In June 2019 Sotheby s announced that it was being acquired by French Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi at a 61 market premium 9 10 On 28 October 2019 Sotheby s named Charles F Stewart as their new CEO Sotheby s former CEO Tad Smith transitioned to an advisory role 56 In 2020 Sotheby s overtook Christie s as the world s top auction house for the first time since 2011 with over 5 billion in aggregate sales compared to its rival s 4 4 billion 57 As of late 2021 Drahi s son Nathan Drahi is the managing director of Sotheby s Asia 58 Public trading Edit York Avenue headquarters New York City Sotheby s became a UK public company in 1977 59 In 1980 after a drop in sales 60 Sotheby s relocated its North American headquarters from Madison Avenue to a former cigar factory 34 at 1334 York Avenue New York The auction house closed its Madison Avenue galleries at East 76th Street The Los Angeles galleries were sold and West Coast auctions moved to New York 61 The following year a group of investors including American millionaire Alfred Taubman purchased and privatized Sotheby s 62 Sotheby s was initially incorporated as Sotheby s Holdings Inc in Michigan in August 1983 7 In 1988 Taubman took Sotheby s public and listed the company s shares on the New York Stock Exchange making Sotheby s the oldest publicly traded company on the NYSE under the ticker symbol BID 63 In June 2006 Sotheby s Holdings Inc reincorporated in the State of Delaware and was renamed Sotheby s shortly after 64 7 After Sotheby s was acquired amp taken private by Patrick Drahi for 3 7 billion in 2019 the company is no longer available for public trading on the New York Stock Exchange 65 Auction process EditMain article Auction Sotheby s auctions are usually held during the day The majority are free and open to the public with the exception of occasional evening auctions which require tickets Attendees have no obligation to bid 66 Bidding finishes when only one bidder remains willing to purchase the lot at the bidder s declared price The auctioneer knocks down the lot declaring it sold to the winning bidder The winning bid for a lot is also called the hammer price Sotheby s organises the delivery of the lot in private with the buyer Buying Edit Buyers can find out what is for sale at Sotheby s by browsing e catalogues visiting pre sale exhibitions purchasing print catalogues and registering for e mail alerts 67 Buyers can register to bid in person at Sotheby s offices or online Sotheby s requires that prospective buyers provide government issued proof of identity and sometimes a bank reference There are four ways buyers can bid in person at the auction rooms by telephone bid live online or make an absentee bid online When a bid is successful Sotheby s calculates and sums the hammer price the buyer s premium and taxes Selling Edit Sellers are required to submit an Auction Estimate Form providing thorough information and a photograph of the item Once accepted for auction the seller and Sotheby s sign a contract which sets out the reserve price and the seller s commission 68 If bidding on a seller s lot does not reach the reserve price the item is not sold Service categories Edit HK Central Landmark 朱銘 Ju Ming art exhibition interior Sotheby s As of April 2021 update Sotheby s lists the following services 69 Advisory Fiduciary client group Global partnerships Financial services lending Fine art storage Post sale services Private sales Restitution Scientific research Tax heritage and UK museums Valuations Wine advisory servicesPrivate salesSotheby s links sellers with prospective buyers in private if sellers do not want a public auction The identities of buyers and consignors are not disclosed 70 Sotheby s Private Sales works with clients with confidentiality and tailors the buying and selling process in a private setting Private Sales accounted for 16 5 of all Sotheby s sales in 2011 71 That year Sotheby s inaugurated a new gallery space called S2 at its York Avenue headquarters with a show of work by American abstract painter Sam Francis Unlike Haunch of Venison a gallery that Christie s bought in 2007 S2 is solely devoted to showcasing the auction house s private sales 72 In 2013 Sotheby s opened a gallery for private sales close to its branch in London in a five story block at 31 George Street 73 The auction house also conducts private sales through its selling exhibitions of monumental sculpture at Chatsworth House Derbyshire and at the Singapore Botanic Gardens 73 Financial servicesEstablished in 1988 Sotheby s Financial Services offers loans for consigned property and loans against the value of client s items through customized terms 74 The auction house also makes term loans for a defined period of time on works that clients aren t planning to sell in part to establish or enhance mutually beneficial relationships with borrowers that can lead to future consignments 75 While traditional lenders such as banks provide loans at a lower cost to borrowers Sotheby s said in its 2011 annual report few will accept works of art as the sole collateral 75 Picture librarySotheby s Picture Library contained images in a variety of formats available for licensing 76 and was one of the image suppliers to various databases such as the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies BAPLA 77 78 However only the image archive mentioned on the Sotheby s website as of April 2021 update is an out of date reference to the Cecil Beaton Studio Archive 79 which Cecil Beaton sold to Sotheby s in 1977 80 WineIn October 2019 Sotheby s launched Sotheby s Own Label Collection a line of a dozen wines The project took two years to complete and is based on Sotheby s best selling wines both those represented in store and on its e commerce platform Additionally the collection reflects some of the long standing relationships Sotheby s has with producers around the world 81 The Sotheby s Wine Encyclopedia has been published in several editions since 1988 written by Tom Stevenson OtherSotheby s has produced a bimonthly online magazine since November December 2018 Sotheby s Magazine 82 Partners and subsidiaries EditSotheby s Institute of Art Edit Main article Sotheby s Institute of Art In 1969 Sotheby s founded Sotheby s Institute of Art in London 83 The Institute now offers full time accredited master s degrees as well as a range of online and other courses 84 Sotheby s International Realty Edit Main article Sotheby s International Realty Sotheby s International Realty is a luxury real estate brand founded in 1976 by Sotheby s It operates as a franchise RM Sotheby s Edit Main article RM Sotheby s RM Sotheby s deals in classic cars headquartered in Canada with offices across the US and Europe Formerly RM Auctions the company has been part owned by Sotheby s since 2015 Sotheby s Prize EditThe Sotheby s Prize launched in 2017 is a 250 000 annual award given to museums that exhibit what are vaguely described as groundbreaking shows 85 The inaugural winners were Many Tongues Art Language and Revolution in the Middle East and South Asia curated by Omer Kholeif of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Pop America Contesting Freedom 1965 1975 curated by Esther Gabara of the Nasher Museum 85 The Sotheby s Prize program concluded in 2020 following a promise to honor existing commitments to shows that are still in formation 86 Notable sales EditAuctioned artwork Edit Hispano J12 1933 coach Pourtout Sotheby s 1989 Sotheby s has set then later reset a number of world records for auctioned works of art The following monetary values are given in United States dollars On 22 May 2002 Norman Rockwell s painting of Rosie the Riveter was sold for 4 96 million On 3 May 2006 Sotheby s auctioned Pablo Picasso s Dora Maar au Chat for 95 million becoming the second most expensive artwork ever sold at auction at that time On 7 June 2007 a Roman era bronze sculpture of Artemis and the Stag was sold at Sotheby s for 28 6 million setting the new record as the most expensive sculpture as well as work from antiquity ever sold at auction at that time Sotheby s holds the world record for most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold at auction with Mark Rothko s 1950 White Center Yellow Pink and Lavender on Rose grossing 72 8 million in May 2007 Sotheby s set a new world record at that time for the most expensive auctioned work by a living artist bringing in 17 million at a November 1986 auction of Out the Window by Jasper Johns the first auction over 10 million in this category While Sotheby s and Christie s surpassed each other over time Sotheby s reclaimed the record with the first auction over 20 million in this category Jeff Koons Hanging Heart Magenta Gold which grossed 23 6 million in a November 2007 sale Sotheby s retook this record at that time on 12 October 2012 with the first auction over 30 million in this category when a 1994 painting from the Abstraktes Bilder series by Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild 809 4 was sold for 34 million On 6 December 2007 Sotheby s auctioned the Guennol Lioness a 31 4 inch limestone lion from ancient Mesopotamia It is thought to be at least 5 000 years old It was sold for 57 million fetching the highest price ever paid for at an auction for a sculpture 87 On 15 December 2007 Sotheby s auctioned one of only seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard written by J K Rowling The book was purchased for a hammer price of 3 8 million Each leather bound copy was hand written and illustrated by Rowling with six given to her close friends and the seventh sent to auction with proceeds going to The Children s Voice charity 88 On 19 December 2007 Sotheby s auctioned a 710 year old copy of the Magna Carta the last remaining copy in private hands out of the 17 that are known to exist The copy sold for 21 3 million 89 On 3 February 2010 the sculpture L Homme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti sold for 103 7 million at a London auction at that time setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction 90 On 2 May 2012 a version of the painting The Scream was sold for 119 9 million On 11 November 2014 the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication became the most expensive watch ever sold at auction reaching a final price of 23 98 million in Geneva 91 On 2 June 2016 Pablo Picasso s Femme Assise sold for 63 7 million at Sotheby s in London making it the most expensive Cubist painting ever sold at auction 92 On 5 October 2018 Banksy s Girl with a Balloon began to shred itself shortly after hammering down at the artist s auction record The work was later sold again with the new title Love is in the Bin for 18 5m an artist s record for Banksy after the previous record of 16 5 million set in March that year 93 On 14 May 2019 Claude Monet s Meules was sold for over 110 million 94 On 25 October 2021 Sotheby s auctioned 11 Picasso s previously belonging to Steve Wynn for 109 Million in a pop up salesroom in Las Vegas 95 Sneaker sales Edit In recent years Sotheby s has been selling sneakers both vintage designs in a buy now sneaker shop 96 and high value pairs some worn by famous people by auction Sneaker auctions have brought in large numbers new to Sotheby s from as young as 19 years old and across the world 97 Notable auction record breaking sales include July 2019 Nike 1972 Nike Waffle Racing Flat Moon Shoe US 437 500 97 98 17 May 2020 Michael Jordan s autographed Nike Air Jordan 1 s from 1985 sold for US 560 000 97 98 99 April 2021 Nike Air Yeezy 1 worn by Kanye West at the 2008 Grammy Awards US 1 8 million This was the first pair of sneakers reported anywhere selling for more than US 1 million 100 99 They were bought by the specialist sneaker investing platform RARES 101 Jewelry Edit On 9 July 2021 Sotheby s sold a 101 38 carat diamond for 12 3 million in cryptocurrency The sale became the most expensive physical object ever publicly offered for purchase with cryptocurrency at the time 102 Controversies EditIllegal antiquities Edit Further information Cultural repatriation 1990s scandal Edit In 1997 a Channel 4 Dispatches programme alleged that Sotheby s had been trading in antiquities with no published provenance and that the organisation continued to use dealers involved in the smuggling of artefacts 103 From the late 1980s through to the early 1990s the antiquities department in London was managed by Brendan Lynch and Oliver Forge Lynch travelled to India frequently and bought unprovenanced pieces from Vaman Ghiya in Rajasthan which turned out to be stolen from temples and other sites British historian and journalist Peter Watson wrote Sotheby s The Inside Story 1997 outlining these illicit activities which he also exposed on CBS s 60 Minutes As a result of this expose Sotheby s commissioned their own report into illegal antiquities and made assurances that only legal items with published provenance would be traded in the future 104 It ceased its regular Asian art sales in London said that they would henceforth only be selling Asian pieces from New York where their legitimacy could be better monitored Forge and Lynch were removed from their posts but never charged and they opened a consultancy in London 105 and continued to trade 106 In India Ghiya was eventually arrested in 2003 only convicted in 2008 and sentenced to life in prison however in 2014 an Indian High Court quashed the conviction Some of the illicit Asian pieces found their way to the National Gallery of Australia and from there a piece known as Dancing Shiva found its way to the Art Gallery of South Australia 106 After doubts were raised and the piece became the object of an investigation beginning in 2014 it was established that it was most likely a stolen piece 107 and was repatriated to India in 2019 108 Cambodian statue 2012 Edit In 2012 the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved to seize a 10th century Cambodian sandstone statue from Sotheby s 109 alleging in a civil complaint before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that the company had put the work up for auction despite knowing that it had been stolen from a temple 110 in Koh Ker 111 Price fixing scandal 2000 Edit In February 2000 A Alfred Taubman and Diana Dede Brooks the CEO of the company stepped down amidst a price fixing scandal The FBI had been investigating auction practices in which it was revealed that collusion involving commission fixing between Christie s and Sotheby s was occurring In October 2000 Brooks admitted her guilt in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence implicating Taubman 112 113 In December 2001 jurors in a high profile New York City courtroom found Taubman guilty of conspiracy He served ten months of a one year sentence in prison while Brooks received a six month home confinement and a penalty of US 350 000 Sotheby s was sentenced to pay a fine of US 45 million 114 No staff from Christie s were charged 115 116 Growing out of the four year criminal antitrust investigation by the United States Department of Justice some 130 000 buyers and sellers filed class action lawsuit arguing they were cheated in the price fixing conspiracy by Sotheby s and Christie s 117 In 2001 the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York gave final approval to a US 512 million agreement 118 The structure of the settlement was said to have helped stave off insolvency for both companies especially the publicly held Sotheby s 119 120 At the time of the scandal 59 percent of the company s Class A shares were owned by Baron Funds 121 Auction error 2011 Edit On 10 March 2011 Sotheby s sold a pair of sconces incorrectly attributed to Emile Jacques Ruhlmann 122 Artists authorship rights 2012 Edit In 2012 art dealer Marc Jancou filed suit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York suing both Sotheby s and artist Cady Noland after the auction house pulled a work he had consigned by the artist from a sale apparently at her request The suit argued that this presented a breach of the consignment agreement Noland had told Sotheby s there were problems with the condition of her painting Cowboys Milking 1990 estimated to sell for between US 260 000 and 350 000 Jancou sued Sotheby s for US 6 million in compensatory damages and Noland for US 20 million in punitive damages 123 Both Sotheby s and Noland argued withdrawing the work from auction was well within the artist s rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act VARA and New York s Artists Authorship Rights Act AARA 124 Industrial dispute 2015 EditSotheby s London auction house had outsourced its cleaning and other support services to Contract Cleaning and Maintenance London Limited CCML In early 2015 the UVW union initiated a formal trade dispute over low pay insufficient sick pay and issues summarised in an Early Day Motion signed by 24 Members of Parliament highlighting 125 the unwarranted suspension of a porter following a grievance he made about poor treatment the refusal to stop using certain chemicals which leave cleaners with breathing difficulties chest pains and rashes the unwarranted deduction of wages and working hours overworking and shouting at porters and cleaners reprimanding a porter for using the toilet outside his official break time threatening a cleaner with suspension for not being clean shavenAfter CCML conceded the majority of UVW s demands Sotheby s decided to contract all support services to a new company Servest This backfired when UVW staged a noisy sit down protest outside the Sotheby s entrance 126 while clients arrived for a record breaking summer night of contemporary art auctions including lots by Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon 127 Four workers were suspended and investigated for their involvement in the protest 128 which led to another Early Day Motion signed by 42 MPs condemning 129 that Sotheby s and Servest consider peaceful protest to be an act of misconduct further condemns Sotheby s decision to ban from the site cleaners and porters who took part in a lawful peaceful protest to call for a real Living Wage contractual sick pay and an end to trade union victimisationWith only two of the four workers reinstated another UVW protest disrupted a Sotheby s classic car auction in London s Battersea 130 In February 2016 it was announced that Sotheby s and Servest had reached an agreement to pay all outsourced workers the London Living Wage and improved sick pay 131 Alleged misleading of traders 2016 2019 Edit In 2016 three New York art traders Warren Adelson president of Adelson Galleries as well as New York based art dealers Alexander Parish and Robert Simon planned to sue Sotheby s for alleged fraud over the resale of Leonardo da Vinci s Salvator Mundi which they sold through Sotheby s in 2013 for 80 million 132 133 After learning that the buyer of the painting Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier sold it on to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for 127 5 million the traders felt deceived by the auction house as to the painting s true value 132 According to court papers the traders inquired whether Sotheby s knew the art work could have been sold for more and whether they were misled into selling the work for a smaller amount by Sotheby s because Bouvier is an esteemed client 134 135 The auction house has denied knowing that Rybolovlev was the intended buyer and sought to dismiss the lawsuit pre emptively 134 In a related development Rybolovlev sued Sotheby s for 380 million in damages for this alleged collusion with Yves Bouvier in 2018 claiming the company materially assisted the largest art fraud in history 136 due to Sotheby s vice chairman of private sales worldwide writing bullish assessments which Bouvier forwarded to Rybolovlev s team about some of the same artworks that Bouvier bought privately through Sotheby s and flipped to the Russian at higher prices 137 Rybolovlev alleged that Yves Bouvier defrauded him out of 1 billion through this practice over several years 138 Sotheby s dismissed these allegations as entirely without merit and stated it would seek to have the case thrown out 139 However on 25 June 2019 a US federal court denied Sotheby s request to have the case dismissed arguing that although there is parallel litigation ongoing in Switzerland Sotheby s fails to establish that there are exceptional circumstances justifying dismissal 140 141 The court also issued an order for Sotheby s to submit all previously confidential information relating to the litigation and rejected the auction house s request to redact specific details from court documents 142 In a statement Sotheby s called the court decision disappointing and stated it would vigorously litigate the merits of the case in Switzerland and New York 142 On 13 November 2019 the New York Court of Appeals upheld the decision requiring Sotheby s to hand over the case relevant files 143 Sotheby s had argued that handing over the documents would breach confidentiality and insisted that because it was named in ongoing proceedings in Switzerland it should be shielded from orders to produce the documents both of which the court rejected 144 Activist investors EditIn 2013 and 2014 Sotheby s was the target of a takeover attempt by activist investor Daniel S Loeb of Third Point LLC a registered investment adviser founded in 1995 and headquartered in New York with over 14 billion in assets under management 145 Third Point began acquiring shares in Sotheby s in February 2013 145 By July 2013 Loeb s stake in Sotheby s increased to 3 7 and in August he raised his stake to 5 7 and requested to talk with the management and board In July activists at Marcato Capital Management revealed a 6 6 stake saying that the shares were undervalued At that point Marcato and Third Point were Sotheby s second and third largest shareholders following BlackRock Fund Advisors 146 Third Point s August purchase brought its stake in Sotheby s to 3 9 million shares 147 On 2 October Third Point increased its share of Sotheby s to 9 3 percent and in a letter to Sotheby s president CEO and Chairman William F Ruprecht called for a change in management due to the company s chronically weak operating margins and deteriorating competitive position relative to Christie s as evidenced by each of the contemporary and modern art evening sales over the last several years 148 Loeb wanted the firm to expand globally 149 and offered to join the Board immediately and to help recruit several new directors 145 On 3 October 2013 Sotheby s responded to Third Point s rapid accumulation of Sotheby s stock by announcing its adoption of a shareholder rights plan known generally as a poison pill whereby it forcibly diluted investor holdings in an attempt to ward off a hostile takeover Third Point described the action as a disproportionate response and a relic from the 1980s 145 150 151 152 153 154 Between October 2013 and February 2014 representatives of Sotheby s and Third Point held a number of in person and telephonic meetings in which they discussed Third Point s ideas about how to increase stockholder value At these meetings Third Point insisted on multiple seats on Sotheby s board the firm offered only a single seat for Loeb himself 145 150 151 153 154 In February 2014 Third Point which by now was Sotheby s largest stockholder stated in a filing that it would nominate three people Loeb Harry Wilson and Olivier Reza to Sotheby s board 155 saying that current board members lack the fresh perspective necessary to overhaul the company s challenged operational structure and cure its cultural malaise 156 Informing Sotheby s formally on 27 February 2014 of its nomination of Loeb Wilson and Reza as board candidates Third Point commended Sotheby s for having taken certain actions that Third Point considered productive but stated that there remains much to be done to enhance the firm s competitive position refocus its strategy and boost stockholder value 145 It was reported in early March that Marcato would support Third Point s nominees to the board 157 On 13 March a day after Third Point increased its stake in Sotheby s slightly to 9 6 the firm rejected Third Point s board nominees Instead the firm nominated executive Jessica Bibliowicz and former AOL and Univision executive Kevin Conroy 156 145 2014 ISS recommendation Edit On 24 April 2014 the investor shareholder advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that Sotheby s investors should vote for two of the three board members recommended by Daniel Loeb including himself 158 159 The second board member recommended by the ISS was Olivier Reza a former investment banker whose jeweler family has done business with Sotheby s 160 Prior to the ISS recommendation on 21 April 2014 Mr Loeb wrote a letter to the Sotheby s board noting the following We are convinced that having an owner s perspective in the boardroom yields better results that this board is in dire need of fresh insights and that our candidates are more qualified than the company s emissaries we are seeking to replace 161 In the report the ISS noted that the particulars of their criticisms of things like commission margin there is credible reason to believe their larger criticism about strategic myopia has some credibility ISS recommended shareholders vote for Loeb and Olivier Reza and that introducing change into the boardroom was warranted 160 Writing for The New York Times on 24 April of 2014 Alexandria Stevenson notes Mr Loeb has accused Sotheby s of rebating the fees its takes for selling multimillion dollar works while also taking less of the buyer s fees to attract more business He has taken issue with the auction house s strategy of focusing on top clients and headline sales He has even criticized board members relatively low holdings of their own company s stock 160 Later that day Sotheby s issued a statement in regards to the report by the ISS We believe that Sotheby s shareholders should vote for all of Sotheby s director nominees We note that ISS rejected one of Third Point s nominees and recommends that shareholders vote for our Say on Pay proposal 158 162 On 5 May Dan Loeb and Sotheby s reached an agreement which stipulated that Dan Loeb Olivier Reza and Harry J Wilson joined the board in exchange for Third Point having an ownership cap at 15 William Ruprecht would stay as CEO and the proxy context to be held at Sotheby s AGM would cease 163 164 165 On the newest board members Bill Ruprecht Chairman President and CEO of Sotheby s noted We welcome our newest directors to the Board and look forward to working with them confident that we share the common goal of delivering the greatest value to Sotheby s clients and shareholders This agreement ensures that our focus is on the business and that we will benefit from five fresh voices and viewpoints 166 2016 Taikang Life Insurance acquires largest stake Edit Disclosed on 27 July 2016 Chinese insurance company Taikang Life Insurance Chinese 中國泰康人壽 run by Chen Dongsheng the grandson in law of Mao Zedong bought a 13 5 stake in Sotheby s 8 holding the highest active stake of the auction house 167 See also EditLove is in the Bin Banksy painting sold by Sotheby s in 2018 and then again in 2021 Peter Wilson auctioneer former chairman The Sotheby s Wine EncyclopediaReferences Edit Sothebys Contact Info Business Insider Retrieved 22 May 2013 a b c Locations Sotheby s Retrieved 24 April 2021 a b c d Sotheby s Form 10 K Securities and Exchange Commission 27 February 2017 United States Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10 K PDF Sotheby s 2018 Annual Report Sotheby s Report 2018 p 8 a b c d e f Collections Online British Museum 1 August 2019 Retrieved 25 April 2021 a b c d e Sotheby s art auction firm Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 10 March 2020 a b c Sotheby s BID Stock Description Report Seeking Alpha a Archived from the original on 4 March 2012 Retrieved 20 March 2012 a b China s Taikang Becomes Sotheby s Largest Shareholder retrieved 17 August 2016 a b Sotheby s to Be Sold Jolting the Art World The Wall Street Journal 17 June 2019 ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 17 June 2019 a b Sotheby s Shareholders Overwhelmingly Approve the Company s 3 7 Billion Acquisition by French Media Mogul Patrick Drahi Artnet News 5 September 2019 Retrieved 17 November 2019 Home page Sotheby s Retrieved 24 April 2021 a b c d ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES Sotheby s Birthday Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved 10 March 2020 a b Huda Shireen 1 April 2008 Pedigree and Panache A History of the Art Auction in Australia ANU E Press p 28 ISBN 978 1 921313 72 1 MacAlister Sir John Young Walker Pollard Alfred William McKerrow Ronald Brunlees Francis Sir Frank Chalton 1891 The Library Oxford University Press p 12 Sotheny s New York New York NY LiveAuctioneers Report Retrieved 19 March 2012 Sotheby s Our History Huda Shireen 1 April 2008 Pedigree and Panache A History of the Art Auction in Australia ANU E Press p 24 ISBN 978 1 921313 72 1 Huda Shireen 1 April 2008 Pedigree and Panache A History of the Art Auction in Australia ANU E Press pp 19 21 ISBN 978 1 921313 72 1 Vogel Carol 21 July 1998 Sotheby s Expanding Plans a Showplace The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 10 March 2020 Huda Shireen 1 April 2008 Pedigree and Panache A History of the Art Auction in Australia ANU E Press p 26 ISBN 978 1 921313 72 1 The heritage of Sotheby s the auction house Sotheby s International Realty France Monaco www sothebysrealty france com Retrieved 26 October 2021 Riebe Marc Christian 1 February 2013 Retail Market Study 2013 The Location Group p 554 ISBN 978 3 033 03849 3 Sotheby s Moscow Sale an Opening to Soviet Art Los Angeles Times 30 May 1988 Retrieved 10 March 2020 James Bond multimedia Sotheby s London James Bond multimedia Carol Vogel 25 December 1998 New Sotheby s Venture The New York Times EXHIBIT 10 h 10 February 2003 U S Securities and Exchange Commission a b Carol Vogel 7 June 1996 A Sotheby s Emmerich Venture The New York Times a b Kate Taylor 16 April 2007 Auction Houses Vs Dealers The New York Sun Carol Vogel 3 October 1997 Sotheby s Loses Albers Estate The New York Times Carol Vogel 16 October 1998 Emmerich Loses Estate The New York Times Judd Tully 24 October 2011 Private Sales Go Public Why Christie s and Sotheby s Are Embracing Galleries Like Never Before ARTINFO Godfrey Barker 23 January 2007 An Inside Look at the Sothebys Noortman Mega Merger ARTINFO Jeffrey Hogrefe 30 March 1998 Alfred Taubman Plans for Art Mall on Top of Sotheby s Fortress New York Observer a b c Graham Bowley 19 June 2013 Sotheby s Considers Putting Its Headquarters Up for Sale New York Times Sotheby s Wine Goldberg Howard 21 September 2010 Sotheby s opens NY retail Outlet Decanter com Retrieved 18 March 2012 Sotheby s Auction House Opens Moscow Office Artinfo com 24 May 2007 2008 art market trends PDF Artprice com Report 2008 Retrieved 12 March 2012 Jeff Segal 24 March 2009 Steve Cohen s Sotheby s bet is no pickled shark The Daily Telegraph a b Georgina Adams 15 November 2013 The Art Market records tumble in 1 1bn New York auction spree Financial Times Charlotte Burns and Gareth Harris 5 December 2011 Noortman posts a loss after failing to hit Sotheby s targets The Art Newspaper Frederik Balfour and Scott Reyburn 21 September 2012 Sotheby s Agrees Joint Venture for Auction House in China Bloomberg SOTHEBYS Form 10 K Businessweek Report 19 February 2012 Archived from the original on 11 July 2007 Retrieved 18 March 2012 Sotheby s Glossary Report Sotheby s Retrieved 18 March 2012 Georgina Adam 17 October 2012 Battle for private selling shows The Art Newspaper Sotheby s buys 25 stake in RM Auctions JustCollecting com Tully Kathryn Sotheby s New CEO Is Madison Square Garden s Tad Smith Forbes Retrieved 17 August 2016 Dewson Andrew Sotheby s find the man to restore reputation Madison Square Gardens Tad Smith The Independent No 17 March 2015 Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 17 March 2015 This Year s Biggest Art News Stories 16 December 2015 Retrieved 17 August 2016 David Redden Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America Retrieved 20 March 2018 Kinsella Eileen 11 January 2016 Sotheby s Buys Art Agency Partners for 50M Artnet News Retrieved 26 October 2021 Kazakina Katya 28 April 2021 It s Official Amy Cappellazzo Is Done With Sotheby s And a New Generation Is Taking Her Place Artnet News Retrieved 26 October 2021 Lunden Ingrid Sotheby s acquires Thread Genius to build its image recognition and recommendation tech TechCrunch Retrieved 25 January 2018 Gabe Cohn 22 February 2019 Sotheby s New York to Expand Gallery Space New York Times sothebys com en sell locale en Sell with Sotheby s a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a Check url value help Kazakina Katya Sotheby s Names Altice s Charles Stewart CEO as Tad Smith Becomes an Adviser Bloomberg Kazakina Katya 28 April 2021 It s Official Amy Cappellazzo Is Done With Sotheby s And a New Generation Is Taking Her Place Artnet News Retrieved 26 October 2021 Sotheby s Promotes Owner Patrick Drahi s Son to Run Asia Artnet News 8 April 2021 Sotheby s inks 3 7 billion deal to go private www bizjournals com Retrieved 12 March 2020 Michael Brenson 7 July 1982 BOOM IN NEW YORK ART SALES APPARENTLY OVER New York Times Rita Reif 11 June 1982 Art Dealers Dismayed At Sotheby s Closing New York Times Reif Rita 16 December 1983 Auctions The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 12 March 2020 Sotheby s BID New York Stock Quote amp Company Profile Businessweek 29 February 2012 Archived from the original on 14 February 2010 Retrieved 18 March 2012 SOTHEBY S www sec gov Retrieved 12 March 2020 French Media Tycoon Patrick Drahi Has Acquired Sotheby s for 3 7 Billion Taking the Publicly Traded Auction House Private Artnet News 17 June 2019 Sotheby s Auctions Report Sotheby s Retrieved 20 March 2012 Sotheby s Buy Sotheby s Retrieved 18 March 2012 Sotheby s Sell Report Sotheby s Retrieved 18 March 2012 All Services Sotheby s Sotheby s Private Sales Report Sotheby s Retrieved 18 March 2012 Sotheby s results highlight competition over private sales Antiques Trade Gazette 12 March 2012 Retrieved 18 March 2012 Shane Ferro 14 September 2011 Sotheby s Expands Beyond the Auction Floor With Its New S2 Art Gallery ARTINFO a b Scott Reyburn 3 May 2013 Sotheby s Boosts Private Sales With New Gallery Plan Bloomberg Sotheby s Financial Services Report Sotheby s Retrieved 18 March 2012 a b Miles Weiss and Katya Kazakina 28 September 2012 Baron Brant Pledges Warhols to Revive Family Business Bloomberg Businessweek Sotheby s Picture Library Report Sotheby s Archived from the original on 29 April 2016 Retrieved 18 March 2012 British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies BAPLA Report Retrieved 18 March 2012 Sotheby s Picture Library BAPLA 22 August 2018 Retrieved 25 April 2021 Purchasing amp Licensing Sotheby s Retrieved 25 April 2021 Cecil Beaton s Studio Archive at Sotheby s The Index Pallant Bookshop Retrieved 25 April 2021 Sotheby s Banks on Its Own Wine Brand Fortune Retrieved 18 November 2019 Sotheby s Magazine a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Why Sotheby s Institute Sotheby s Institute of Art sothebysinstitute com Retrieved 7 August 2018 Master s Degrees Sotheby s Institute of Art sothebysinstitute com Retrieved 7 August 2018 a b F R 28 September 2017 Sotheby s launches a new prize for cutting edge curators The Economist Kinsella Eileen 9 July 2020 Sotheby s Is Nixing Its Three Year Old Museum Prize Program Which Honored Inventive Exhibitions as It Looks to Cut Costs Artnet Tiny Sculpture Topples huge records at auction Artinfo com 6 December 2007 News amp Press Children s High Level Group Never before told wizarding stories by JK Rowling sell at Sotheby s for 1 950 000 Archived from the original on 17 December 2007 Retrieved 9 September 2016 Michaud Christopher 19 December 2007 Magna Carta fetches 21 3 million at Sotheby s auction Reuters Retrieved 18 March 2012 Shapiro Lila 3 February 2010 Giacometti Sculpture L Homme qui marche I Fetches 104 3 Million The Huffington Post Retrieved 3 February 2010 Adams Ariel 24 000 000 Patek Philippe Supercomplication Pocket Watch Beats Its Own Record at Auction Forbes Retrieved 23 November 2018 Pogrebin Robin 2 June 2016 Picasso s Femme Assise Sells for 63 7 Million an Auction High for Cubism The New York Times Banksy s Love is in the Bin sells for record 16m BBC News 14 October 2021 Retrieved 26 October 2021 Jacobo Julia 14 May 2019 Monet s Meules painting fetches more than 110 million at Sotheby s auction ABCNews Kinsella Eileen 25 October 2021 Former Casino Boss Steve Wynn s Picasso Collection Fetched 109 Million in a Special Sotheby s Event in Las Vegas Artnet News Retrieved 26 October 2021 Sotheby s Now Sells Sneakers We Can Actually Afford Highsnobiety 1 April 2021 Retrieved 19 June 2021 a b c Slam dunk Sotheby s sets new world auction record for any pair of sneakers Sotheby s 17 May 2020 Retrieved 19 June 2021 a b Frank Robert 18 May 2020 Michael Jordan s Air Jordan 1s sell for 560 000 setting a new sneaker record CNBC Retrieved 19 June 2021 a b Kanye s Yeezy sneakers snag world record 1 8 million in private sale Reuters 26 April 2021 Retrieved 19 June 2021 Kanye West s Yeezy sneakers from the Grammy Awards break auction records ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation 27 April 2021 Retrieved 19 June 2021 Kanye s Yeezys go for 1 8 million at auction breaking world record for sneaker sale NBC New York 26 April 2021 Retrieved 19 June 2021 Diamond Sold for 12 Million in Cryptocurrency at Sotheby s Bloomberg 9 July 2021 Archived from the original on 9 July 2021 Retrieved 30 July 2021 TV Sting reveals illegal art deal 12 February 1997 The Daily Telegraph Smuggled art clampdown by Sotheby s 17 December 1997 The Times How We Work Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch a b Boland Michaela 2 October 2014 Doubts shroud idol deals The Australian Alternative title Doubts emerge over Indian idols at Art Gallery of South Australia p 11 Retrieved 24 April 2021 Boland Michaela 12 September 2018 Dancing Shiva at Art Gallery of South Australia was stolen from India ABC News Retrieved 24 April 2021 Kumar Vivek 16 September 2019 Dancing Shiva returns home from Australia SBS Your Language Retrieved 24 April 2021 Rosa Prince 5 April 2012 Sotheby s sued for return of 10th century Cambodian statue The Daily Telegraph Ralph Blumenthal and Tom Mashberg 4 April 2012 Officials Are Set to Seize Antiquity The New York Times Ralph Blumenthal and Tom Mashberg 1 June 2012 Cambodia Says It Seeks Return Of Met Statues The New York Times Rohleder Anna 2001 Who s Who in the Sotheby s Price Fixing Trial Forbes New York Retrieved 3 September 2009 Carol Vogel and Ralph Blumenthal 6 October 2000 In Plea Sotheby s Ex Chief Points to Her Superior The New York Times Former Chairmen of Sotheby s and Christie s Auction Houses indicted in international price fixing conspiracy justice gov Archived from the original on 15 April 2013 Retrieved 30 July 2017 Mason Christopher 3 May 2005 Art of the Steal Inside the Sotheby s Christie s Auction House Scandal New York Penguin Group ISBN 978 1 4406 0480 5 Going Once Going Twice Glamour Greed and Fraud at Sotheby s and Christie s Knowledge Wharton University of Pennsylvania 8 September 2004 Retrieved 3 September 2009 Carol Vogel 1 November 2000 Sotheby s and Christie s Face New Class Action Suit The New York Times Carol Vogel and Ralph Blumenthal 14 April 2001 Judge Accepts Plan to Settle Suit Against Auction Houses The New York Times Carol Vogel and Ralph Blumenthal 12 February 2001 Experts Support Settlement Of Auction House Lawsuit The New York Times Roland Gribben 9 August 2001 Sotheby s pays more to keep staff in time of transition The Daily Telegraph Managing Money by Sizing Up Corporate Chiefs The New York Times 30 October 2004 Retrieved 9 September 2016 Attribution error for 60 000 sconces to Emile Jacques Ruhlmann Docantic 10 March 2011 Retrieved 24 April 2021 Julia Halperin 10 February 2012 Enigmatic Artist Cady Noland Yanks a Work From a Sotheby s Auction Touching Off a Lawsuit ARTINFO Julia Halperin 10 April 2012 Disgruntled Dealer Doubles Down Adding 20 Million to His Claim Against Cady Noland and Sotheby s ARTINFO Dispute Involving Contract Cleaning and Maintenance London Ltd Early Day Motions edm parliament uk Retrieved 7 March 2019 Dean Jon 3 July 2015 Sotheby s suspends cleaners after water pistols fired at clients during demo mirror Retrieved 7 March 2019 Smith Dominic 2 July 2015 Warhol s One Dollar Bill fetches 20 9m on record night for Sotheby s The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 7 March 2019 Meet the Sotheby s Four sacked for asking for sick pay newstatesman com Retrieved 7 March 2019 TREATMENT OF LOW PAID EMPLOYEES BY SOTHEBY S Early Day Motions edm parliament uk Retrieved 7 March 2019 Reyburn Scott 11 September 2015 Luxury Automobiles on the Firing Line The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 7 March 2019 Sotheby s 2 cleaners claim victory as low pay dispute with auction house is settled West End Extra archive westendextra com Retrieved 7 March 2019 a b Bowley Graham Rashbaum William K 28 November 2016 Sotheby s Tries to Block Suit Over a Leonardo Sold and Resold at a Big Markup The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 22 March 2019 Kazakina Katya 22 November 2016 Dispute over 127 5 Million Leonardo Painting Draws in Sotheby s Bloomberg a b Art Traders Bring Lawsuit Against Sotheby s for Flipped Da Vinci Painting artforum com Retrieved 22 March 2019 Lebeaupin Jean Marc 28 January 2020 Passe d armes judiciaire entre Rybolovlev et Bouvier artsixMic in French Retrieved 22 April 2020 Kazakina Katya 3 October 2018 Billionaire Slaps Sotheby s With 380 Million Lawsuit Bloomberg Russian Billionaire Seeks to Pull Sotheby s into Art World Fight Bloomberg 21 December 2017 Sotheby s internal correspondence could become object of public scrutiny RAPSI 17 November 2019 Retrieved 3 July 2020 Russian Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev Accuses Sotheby s of Price Inflation in a 380 Million Suit artnet News 3 October 2018 Retrieved 22 March 2019 Sotheby s must face Russian billionaire s lawsuit over art fraud Reuters 25 June 2019 Retrieved 2 July 2019 Sotheby s denied dismissal of Rybolovlev s 380m lawsuit by New York judge theartnewspaper com 26 June 2019 Retrieved 2 July 2019 a b Russian Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev Can Proceed With His 380 Million Lawsuit Against Sotheby s a Judge Says artnet News 26 June 2019 Retrieved 2 July 2019 Sotheby s somme de fournir a la justice americaine des documents concernant son proces en Europe ABC Bourse in French Retrieved 3 July 2020 Three Sotheby s developments on the art market s radar Business Matters 22 November 2019 Retrieved 3 July 2020 a b c d e f g Dan Loeb Wages Proxy War Letter To BID ValueWalk 18 March 2014 Retrieved 28 March 2014 Benoit David 26 August 2013 Dan Loeb s Third Point Goes Activist on Sotheby s The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 28 March 2014 Third Point increases stake in Sotheby s to 5 7 pct filing Reuters 26 August 2013 Retrieved 28 March 2014 Sotheby s boss should resign says activist investor BBC News 3 October 2013 Retrieved 28 March 2014 Benoit David 2 October 2013 Highlights From Dan Loeb s Letter to Sotheby s The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 28 March 2014 a b Wachtel Katya 4 October 2013 Sotheby s adopts poison pill after Loeb raises stake Chicago Tribune Retrieved 28 March 2014 a b Bates Rob 8 October 2013 Sotheby s Tries to Fend Off Activist Investor With Poison Pill JCK Retrieved 28 March 2014 Wachtel Katya 4 October 2013 Sotheby s adopts poison pill after Loeb raises stake Reuters Retrieved 28 March 2014 a b Levin Bess 4 October 2013 Sotheby s Board Knows Even Less About Engaging with a Shareholder Than It Does About Contemporary Art Third Point Dealbreaker Retrieved 28 March 2014 a b Crow Kelly German Sara Benoit David 10 October 2013 Sotheby s Christie s Square Off in Test of Strategies The Wall Street Journal Retrieved 28 March 2014 Wapner Scott 27 February 2014 Loeb s Third Point to nominate three for Sotheby s board CNBC Retrieved 28 March 2014 a b Sotheby s rejects Third Point s board nominees The New Jersey Herald Retrieved 28 March 2014 The Morning Brief Marcato Backs Third Point in Sotheby s Shake Up Institutional Investor s Alpha 6 March 2014 Retrieved 28 March 2014 a b Herbst Bayliss Svea 24 April 2014 ISS recommends votes for two Loeb nominees to Sotheby s board Reuters Retrieved 25 April 2014 Ember Sydney 25 April 2014 Sotheby s Battle Heats Up The New York Times Retrieved 28 April 2014 a b c Stvenson Alexandria 24 April 2014 Bare Knuckles at Sotheby s Auction House The New York Times Retrieved 28 April 2014 Delevingne Lawrence 21 April 2014 Loeb to Sotheby s My directors are better CNBC Retrieved 28 April 2014 Sotheby s Issues Statement Following ISS Report Market Watch 24 April 2014 Retrieved 25 April 2014 Sotheby s Yields to Hedge Fund Mogul and Allies Deal Book blog The New York Times 5 May 2014 Retrieved 9 September 2016 Sotheby s and the 16 Million Anti Dan Loeb Proxy Battle Bloomberg Bloomberg businessweek com 7 May 2014 Archived from the original on 8 May 2014 Retrieved 9 September 2016 Sotheby s Third Point Reach Agreement on Board Seats Nasdaq via Zacks com 6 May 2014 Retrieved 11 May 2014 Sotheby s and Third Point Reach Agreement IT Business Net 5 May 2014 Retrieved 11 May 2014 Radar Art Taikang Life is largest shareholder in Sotheby s Art Radar Retrieved 17 August 2016 Further reading Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sotheby s Wikisource has original text related to this article Sotheby Samuel Leigh History of Sotheby s Holdings Inc FundingUniverse Source International Directory of Company Histories Vol 29 St James Press 1999 Includes bibliography Lacey Robert 1998 Sotheby s Bidding For Class Little Brown amp Co ISBN 0 316 51139 0 Learmount Brian 1985 A history of the auction Barnard amp Learmont ISBN 0 9510240 0 0 Mason Christopher 2004 The Art of the Steal Putnam ISBN 0 399 15093 5 Sotheby s Encyclopedia com Watson Peter 1998 Sotheby s The Inside Story Random House ISBN 978 0 679 41403 2 External links EditOfficial websiteCoordinates 51 30 43 N 0 08 37 W 51 51194 N 0 14361 W 51 51194 0 14361 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sotheby 27s amp oldid 1148230558, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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