Sotheby’s Slashes 100+ Jobs at New York Office as Auction Sales Dip
135Dec. 15, 2024
Sotheby’s has eliminated one hundred staff members from its New York headquarters, focusing on back-office employees, junior staffers, and top-level specialists across a variety of departments. The cuts come just months after about fifty workers were laid off at the auction house’s London offices and, more recently, in the wake of a disappointing November sale season in New York, which saw the house take in $533.1 million compared to the $1.2 billion it amassed from its marquee sales of Impressionist, modern, and contemporary art during the same period in 2023.
“Given the challenges themarkethas faced this year, we’ve taken a careful look at our business and staffing levels to perform well and grow going forward,” said a spokesperson in a statement. “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.”
French telecom billionaire Patrick Drahi bought Sotheby’s and its extant debt in 2019 for $3.7 billion and took the company private. This past October, the auction house closed a deal in which Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund ADQ invested roughly a billion dollars in the company. Drahi’s companies are reported to be carrying a total $60 billion in debt, but Drahi has continued to invest in real estate connected with Sotheby’s, including the $100 million purchase, finalized in November, of the Breuer Building on Madison Avenue. The longtime home of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the building is set to serve as Sotheby’s new NYC headquarters. The auction house also opened new headquarters in Hong Kong and Paris.
“They have to do radical cutting,” an unnamed former Sotheby’s executive told Artnet News. “And that’s what they are doing.”