Sotheby’s Reportedly Slashing Up to 50 Employees in London
The auction house is slated to lay off dozens of employees in the coming months, according to The Art Newspaper. More cuts are expected in New York and Europe.
Sotheby's Contemporary Evening auction in New York, May 2024. Courtesy Sotheby's.
Sotheby's, one of the world's leading auction houses, will be dismissing close to 50 employees in London in the coming weeks, according to reporting by The Art Newspaper. They said locations in Europe and New York are also subject to job cuts.
Employees at Sotheby's London found out about the layoffs, which range from director-level positions to art handers, during a staff meeting last week.
A spokesperson for the auction house denied a rumour that their London headquarters will be sold: 'London is and will continue to be our largest and most important centre for sales, exhibitions, and talent in Europe and our second biggest sales location in the world.'
Sotheby's was not available for further comment.
While things remain in flux at the auction house, the news comes as they prepare for their June auctions and introduce their restructured buyer's premiums.
The Art Newspaper noted that the company will be entering a 'consultation period' to further analyse their finances.
Sotheby's modern and contemporary art sales in New York earlier this month produced tepid sales totalling U.S. $267.3 million, and $126.6 in London in March respectively.
Last year, Sotheby's laid off 10 senior employees. From 2021 to 2022, their profits decreased 24 percent, from £34.5 million ($44 million) to £26.2 million ($33.4 million), according to Companies House, a British government agency that maintains a register of companies.
Reports cited the impact of Brexit and global socio-political issues on the art market. A Sotheby's spokesperson said the information from Companies House was 'incomplete' and 'based on a standalone entity which does not represent the financial view of our full global enterprise or even our U.K. business in aggregate'.
In 2019, Israeli telecom billionaire Patrick Drahi purchased the company for $3.7 billion and took it private. Two years later, following a record $7.3 billion in sales for the company, there was talk that Drahi was considering making a public offering that never occurred. —[O]
