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Sotheby’s Black Tuesday

Shortly after closing on a $1 billion financing, the 280-year-old auction house is drastically cutting back staff in offices around the world. With new real estate that emphasizes luxury retail and plans to exploit the power of its brand, what does the future look like for a leaner, meaner Sotheby’s?

Patrick Drahi
n many ways, the culling reflects a vision Drahi brought to the company when he bought it five years ago: to make Sotheby’s brand much larger than fine art. Photo: Christophe Morin/IP3/Getty Images
Marion Maneker
December 10, 2024

Sotheby’s is downsizing. On Tuesday, people within the auction house began reporting that around 100 staff had been laid off in New York, with more cutbacks planned or in progress in locations across the world. Today’s layoffs were said to range from people in business development roles to senior specialists in the impressionist and modern departments. An overwhelmed H.R. department was allowing terminated employees to make their own way out of the building as concerned staffers consoled their shell-shocked, and in some cases, tearful former colleagues. “If only we owned stock in Kleenex,” one rueful observer commented.