Following a series of poor auction sales, Sotheby’s announced course correction by cutting down its staff.
Earlier this week, Artnet News reported that around 100 employees at Sotheby’s were laid off. It also mentioned that the auction house had not internally communicated this massive step; rather, they chose to be stealthy. However, once the news broke, a spokesperson for the auction house released a statement: “Given the challenges the market has faced this year, we’ve taken a careful look at our business and staffing levels to perform well and grow going forward. We have an exceptionally talented team with outstanding expertise and capabilities across departments and around the world, and we are focused on delivering best-in-class services to our clients.”
Sotheby’s did face a challenging year. In this season alone, its November marquee sales yielded a total of a mere $533.1 million. This was a major step down from the numbers collected last year during the same period – $1.2 billion. However, the auction house is not alone in these troubles. The entire art market saw a fluctuating year, with things going particularly slow in the latter half.
The majority of the laid-off employees were junior staffers, backroom workers, and specialists in less busy departments. The auction house had already cut 50 staffers from its London office in May. Signs suggest that more layoffs are on the way.
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But poor sales aren’t the only reason behind these layoffs. Sotheby’s is currently at $1.8 billion in debt. Meanwhile, its owners-founder Patrick Drahi is $60 billion in debt. Perhaps for these reasons, the auction house took an investment of $1 billion from an Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund, making it the first outside investment in its history.