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By Madelia Hickman Ring
NEW YORK CITY — Beginning on Tuesday, December 10, Sotheby’s began a wave of layoffs of about 100 staff, from back-office workers and junior staffers in various departments to business development roles and specialists at every level. Several news platforms noted departments such as Antiquities, Americana and Japanese art were significantly affected. Antiques and The Arts Weekly has confirmed this with an anonymous internal source.
These cuts followed on the heels of lackluster sales in its November auctions of Impressionist, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary departments, which this year totaled $533.1 million, less than half of the $1.2 billion generated a year ago.
ARTNEWS reported that Sotheby’s financial standing has been in question for months, following an earlier round of cutbacks of approximately 50 staff in London in May, a leaked report in September of an 88 percent decline in core earnings and a 25 percent drop in auction sales in the first half of 2024. Sotheby’s owner, French telecom magnate Patrick Drahi, appears to be looking to shore up a flagging business empire, which is reported to be in debt to the tune of about $60 billion.
It was earlier reported that he received a $1 billion investment from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund and investment company, ADQ.
These recent layoffs come as the firm has expanded its physical footprint by purchasing for $100 million the Marcel Breuer building — formerly the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art — and opening new headquarters in both Paris and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
