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- PHILLIPS
REMAKING AUCTION MARKET: Now even Sotheby's board members
are selling their art at No. 3 auction house Phillips. Observers
say that Phillips is "guaranteeing collectors so much money
that neither Sotheby's nor Christie's can come near the offers.
As a consequence, the high-end auction world — a cozy gentleman's
club until the federal investigation into price-fixing and collusion
shattered its decorum — is becoming an ever more free-wheeling,
up-for-grabs marketplace, which makes officials at both houses
worry that tight profit margins could evaporate completely."
The New York Times 03/07/01
- FALLOUT
FOR SOTHEBY'S/CHRISTIE'S: Fallout from Sotheby's and Christie's
auction house legal woes is mounting. Sotheby's website has been
a money sinkhole, there're those big settlements to pay, and it
looks like customers are turning to other sellers. And look, there's
No. 3 auction house Phillips in the passing lane... The
Economist 03/03/01
Friday
January 19, 2001
- FORMER
PRES GOES NON-PROFIT: The former Sotheby's president who resigned
amidst collusion investigations of the company, has forfeited
her stock options. "At the time she resigned, Ms. Brooks
volunteered to give back all but a few of her options. The company
then asked for the return of all the options as partial payment
for damages stemming from her role in a price-fixing scheme that
has cost the auction house tens of millions of dollars in fines
and lawsuit settlements. It also ensures that she will not profit
from any increase in Sotheby's stock." New
York Times 01/19/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
Wednesday
December 6, 2000
- GOING
AFTER THE GUY AT THE TOP: The
US government is aggressively going after Bernard Taubman, formerly
chairman of Sotheby's, trying to tie him to the price-fixing scandal
with Christie's. The government is attempting "to build its
case against Mr. Taubman with the testimony of assistants who
could confirm meetings between top executives from each company."
New
York Times 12/06/00
(one-time registration required for
access)
Tuesday
November 28
- ATTENTION
COUPON CLIPPERS: Sotheby's and Christie's have asked a judge
to allow them to pay $100 million of the $512 million settlement
against them with certificates good for buying art in the future.
"Sellers, they said, could have up to five years to use their
coupons and could transfer them through a jointly appointed certificate
administrator, which they said would create a secondary market."
The New York Times 11/28/00 (one-time
registration required for access)
Tuesday
November 21
- ATTORNEYS
WHO WIN: The attorneys representing the 100,000 plaintiffs
who sued Sotheby's and Christie's for price fixing stand to make
$27 million for their work after negotiating a $512 million settlement.
New York Times 11/20/00 (one-time
registration required for access)
Friday
November 17
- THE
INFLATING CONTEMPORARY MARKET: A couple of years ago, when
Christie's began selling work by young contemporary artists, some
in the art world complained the move would falsely inflate the
value of such work. Bidding at the contemporary auction Thursday
night was vigorous and exceeded the high estimate for the session.
New York Times 11/17/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
Thursday
November 16
- THE
BOOM GOES ON:
Six records were set at Christie’s first sale of post-war art
Wednesday night, which brought in a total of $59.7 million. The
buyers? "They're selective, but they'll spend big, big money."
New
York Times 11/16/00
(one-time registration required for
entry)
Wednesday
Noevmeber 15
- 100,000
PLAINTIFFS GET A VOICE:
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled yesterday that a proposed $512
million settlement of the antitrust lawsuit against Sotheby's
and Christie's could be submitted for consideration to the more
than 100,000 buyers and sellers affected by the companies alleged
collusion and price-fixing. New
York Times 11/15/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
- THE
FALL AUCTION BOOM CONTINUES:
Eleven records were set at Sotheby's New York sale of contemporary
art this week. "On offer was consistently high-quality art
from all periods - everything from Abstract Expressionist and
Pop art to some 1990's artists new to the auction rooms. Of the
62 lots, only 12 failed to sell. The sale totaled $43.1 million."
New
York Times 11/15/00
(one-time
registrationrequired for entry)
- LOVE
OF THE NEW:
Phillip’s also saw sales beyond its high-bid estimates, taking
in $10.6 million and setting records for several artists’ work
including Damien Hirst. Warhol, DeKooning, and Basquiat were also
top sellers. CNN
(Reuters) 11/14/00
Tuesday
November 14
- WHO
GETS WHAT IN AUCTION SUIT: The some 100,000 plaintiffs in
the class action suits against Sotheby's and Christie's reveal
how they propose to split the $512 million settlement with the
companies. New York Times 11/14/00
(one-time registrationrequired for entry)
Wednesday
November 1
- BUYER’S
REVENGE:
In the midst of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation,
a class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Sotheby’s and
Christie’s customers alleging price-fixing and collusion among
both companies’ top executives. New
York Times 11/01/00
(one-time registration required for
entry)
- TRIANGLE
COMPETITION:
As the major auction houses gear up for their big fall sales over
the next two weeks, a third player is giving them a run for their
money. "The historical tug-of-war between Sotheby's and Christie's
has turned into an expensive three-way fight. Since LVMH bought
Phillips, the London-based auction house a year ago, it has been
going after property at any cost, dipping into LVMH's deep pockets
to become a major player." New
York Times 11/01/00
(one-time registration required for
entry)
- WELCOME
BACK, DEALERS:
Once the center of the art auction world, France has handled only
5% of international art sales in recent decades due to an antiquated,
protectionist system that has prohibited foreign auction houses
from selling in Paris. But now imminent reforms will soon end
French auctioneers’ monopoly and open the door to a more vibrant
art market. "Many new foreign dealers have already opened
branches in Paris in recent months and are eagerly awaiting the
starting gun." The
Age (Melbourne) (DPA) 11/01/00
Sunday
October 8
-
HOW
THE FEDS GOT CHRISTIE'S/SOTHEBY'S: Last December Christie's
London was forcing out Christopher M. Davidge, its chief executive.
"When Christie's demanded all of his business records,
Mr. Davidge turned the tables and produced a bonanza. He dug
out private files of his handwritten notes to Christie's one-time
chairman, Sir Anthony Tennant, and gave them to his lawyer,
who, by late December, had dumped them in the laps of the company's
criminal lawyers in New York. The impact still reverberates
through the $4 billion-a-year auction world, which will never
be the same. New
York Times 10/08/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
Friday
October 6
- CHRISTIE'S/SOTHEBY'S
DEAL PUT ON HOLD: A judge puts a hold on the $512 million
settlement reached late last month by the boards of both Christie's
and Sotheby's, saying that not all the plaintiffs have had a chance
to sign off on the agreement. CNN
10/05/00
- SOTHEBY'S/FORMER
CEO PLEAD GUILTY: The venerable Sotheby's auction house and
its former chief executive pleaded guilty Thursday to fixing commission
prices and fees with rival Christie's, admitting they had ripped
off clients for years. Former CEO Diana D. Brooks, the first woman
to head a major auction house and one of the most powerful figures
in the art world over the last decade, faces up to three years
in federal prison when she is sentenced Jan. 5." Dallas
Morning News (AP) 10/06/00
Thursday
October 5
- CONFESSING
TO THE CRIME:
After a three-year antitrust investigation, Sotheby's former president
and CEO Diana D. Brooks has agreed to plead guilty to felony counts
of conspiring with Christie's to violate antitrust laws. Sotheby's
has also agreed to plead guilty to antitrust violations and pay
a fine of $45 million - on top of the multimillion-dollar settlement
two weeks ago in the investigation's civil case. New
York Times 10/05/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
Tuesday
September 26
- SETTLEMENT
AIDS SOTHEBY'S: "Shares of Sotheby's Holdings rose more
than 15 percent yesterday after the board of the beleaguered auction
house agreed to pay $256 million to settle a class-action claim
that it colluded with Christie's to fix commissions charged to
buyers and sellers." New York
Times 09/26/00 (one-time registration
required for entry)
Monday
September 25
- LONDON
GOES LATE: "In a collective outbreak of sanity, the two
major auction houses have decided to move the evening sales of
Impressionist, modern and contemporary art, held in London in
December, to late January and early February. This should bring
in more business for the London salerooms after years of drift
across the Atlantic to New York."
The Telegraph (London) 09/25/00
Sunday
September 24
- PRICE-FIXING
SETTLEMENT: Sotheby's and Christie's have tentatively agreed
to "pay $512 million to settle claims that the world's most
powerful auction houses cheated buyers and sellers in a price-fixing
scheme that dates back to 1992." New
York Times 09/23/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
Friday
August 4
-
SCANDAL
EFFECT: Sotheby's earnings decline 5 percent, though revenue
was up in the second quarter. "Sotheby's shares have declined
by more than a third this year as Internet spending and legal
fees from the price-fixing investigation and related lawsuits
cut into earnings." New
York Times 08/03/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
Monday
July 17
-
THE
COLLUSION CASE: The murkiness of L'affaire Christie's/Sotheby's
begins to lift. "In its formal response to the class action
complaint, a copy of which has been obtained by The Daily Telegraph,
Christie's denies most of the allegations or says that they
are matters of law. But it admits that Sir Anthony Tennant and
Christopher Davidge, formerly chairman and chief executive of
Christie's respectively, did have communications with Alfred
Taubman and Dede Brooks, their opposite numbers at Sotheby's."
The Telegraph 07/17/00
Monday
June 12
-
PROVING
THE FIX:
Prosecutors are racing
to ready their case of collusion against Christie's and Sotheby's.
"If the Justice Department is successful in establishing
that the price-fixing dates back nine years, civil awards could
cripple both companies. One lawyer suing the auction houses
said that the damages could run well into the hundreds of millions
of dollars, which, when tripled under provisions in such cases,
could mean combined losses to Sotheby's and Christie's of close
to $1.5 billion."
New
York Times 06/12/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
Sunday
May 21
-
ARTY
PARTY: In high-stakes auctions, you've got to schmooze the
potential bidders these days. "Sotheby's alone held 16
promotional events between May 4 and May 16, including a populist
Sunday brunch and an intimate boardroom dinner to cultivate
major donors to the Dia Center for the Arts."
New
York Times 05/21/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
Friday
May 19
Wednesday
May 17
-
PICKING
UP THE PIECES: At one
time the top spot running Sotheby's would have been considered
a real dream job. But with scandals and investigations and uncertainties,
William Ruprecht confesses that he "took a very deep breath
and had a moment of hesitation" before accepting the assignment
last February. After last week's successful spring auctions,
it appears some of the storm has passed. Financial
Times 05/16/00
Monday
May 15
-
LONG
TERM STRATEGY:
Even though last week's
auction in New York by Phillips - pushing hard to gain a toehold
on Sotheby's and Christie's - was little short of a disaster
and cost the company a great deal of money, Phillips is in to
stay. "It would be a mistake to believe that it can be
done quickly. It will take three to five years to reposition
ourselves and grow from there. This is by no means a quick fix."
The Telegraph (London) 05/15/00
Tuesday
May 9
-
SPRING
SHOPPING: Christie’s
and Sotheby’s held their first auctions since the federal antitrust
investigation, and dealers and collectors packed the room to
see what effect the recent legal crisis would have on sales.
Monet and Caillebotte brought in top bids, but “many works sold
for far less than their low estimates.” New
York Times 05/09/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
-
A
WELL-HEELED SHRUG: The Justice Department and the art
world may care deeply about the auction houses’ commission-fixing
allegations, but the investigation “elicited a well-heeled
shrug from many prospective bidders last night at Christie's
auction of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art.” New
York Times 05/09/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
Monday
May 8
- MAKING
A MOVE IN THE PASSING LANE...
The spring auctions are on
this week in New York, and while Sotheby's and Christie's still
dominate, some attention is going to No. 3, Philips, recently
bought by Bernard Arnault, the "billionaire French entrepreneur
and bitter rival of Christie's proprietor François Pinault. The
works to be auctioned at the American Craft Museum, away from
Phillips's own inadequate saleroom, are impressive. The auctioneer
that has traditionally sold pictures of five- and six-figure values
has moved into a new league."
The Telegraph
(London) 05/08/00
- AWKWARD
TRANSITION: A familiar face will be absent at this week's
Sotheby's auctions. Diana Brooks was the face of Sotheby's as
its president and chief executive before she resigned amidst widening
auction house investigations in February. But "so big was
her role at Sotheby's that it was impossible for her simply to
walk away, officials at the company say." New
York Times 05/08/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
Friday
May 5
-
WINDOW
OF OPPORTUNITY: The London-based auction house Philips is
a distant third in the auction business. But since Bernard Arnault
and his luxury goods conglomerate, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy
(LVMH), bought Phillips for £75 million, the the auctioneer
has suddenly acquired enormous resources as part of "a
multi-billion dollar operation which already controlled over
ten fashion labels, seven wine and spirits brands, ten perfume
companies, five watchmakers, numerous distribution companies
and a rapidly growing number of online interests." Already
there are signs Philips is ready to make some waves. The
Art Newspaper 05/05/00
Wednesday
May 3
-
ARTFUL
BUYBACK:
Failing to convince Christie's
auction house not to sell what they consider to be looted cultural
treasures, Beijingers bid on the items in Hong Kong auctions
to keep the artwork in China. "We
spent half an hour calling our group leaders in Europe to report
the feelings of Hong Kong's people, the attitude of Christie's
and the statement of the State Bureau of Cultural Relics. Our
leaders' decision was that if Christie's insisted on going ahead
to sell the looted treasures, we would grab them . . . and the
only way was to join the bidding." South
China Morning Post 05/02/00
Tuesday
May 2
Monday
May 1
- SELLING
HERITAGE: The Chinese government tried
to stop Christie's auction house from selling two sculptures at
auction in Hong Kong. The sale went ahead anyway, and the pieces
were bought by a Beijing man, who says he bought them for "the
Chinese people." According to China's State Bureau of Cultural
Relics, "both sculptures came from a set of 12 bronze animal
heads that adorned the Zodiac Fountain at Yuanmingyuan, or the
Old Summer Palace, which was looted by British and French troops
during the second Opium War in 1860." China
Times 05/01/00
- Chinese
angry at auction house over auction.
New York Times 05/01/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
- TODAY
MELBOURNE, TOMORROW... Deutscher Menzies
controls the Melbourne auction business and has a leg up in Sydney.
"Once the saleroom is established nationally, it will take
on the big two [Sotheby's and Christie's] on their home turfs
in London and New York. In December Menzies made a bid for the
world's third oldest auction house, the London-based Phillips.
He was one of a group of shortlisted bidders but lost out to French
financier Bernard Arnault, head of the luxury products group LVMH
Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
The Age (Melbourne) 05/01/00
Thursday
April 27
-
A
LITTLE DISTANCE PLEASE: Okay, so Sotheby's
chairman has resigned in the midst of the auction house investigations.
But if his people still control the board of directors, how
will the company make a clean break from possible misdeeds of
the past? Financial
Times 04/27/00
-
TARNISHED
TALE: Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman
rebuilt Sotheby's and helped make it successful - it was all
a kind of fairy tale. But sometimes fairy tales write their
own dark endings... New
York Times 04/27/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
Wednesday
April 26
Monday
April 24
-
A
FORMAL DENIAL: In response
to the recently filed civil suit alleging price-fixing, Sotheby's
officially denied conspiring with its rival auction house Christie's
to fix commissions and asked a federal judge to dismiss the
charges. New
York Times 04/13/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
-
AUCTION
HOUSE DEFECTION: Russian heirs of
the pioneering abstract artist Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935)
have decided to sell a painting estimated to be worth £13 million
at Phillips, the London auction house which has long stood in
the shadow of Christie's and Sotheby's. ArtNewsroom.com
04/11/00
-
MAYBE
IT'S AN AUCTION THING: Christie's
and Sotheby's legal woes are well known. But on-line auctioneer
E-Bay is also getting tangled up in legal challenges. According
to court documents, E-bay is currently involved in three US
government investigations. The
Art Newspaper 04/07/00
-
CONSPIRACY
THEORY: Prosecutors
in the federal antitrust investigation of Sotheby's and Christie's
have evidence that the chairmen of both auction houses personally
set in motion a price-fixing scheme to limit competition. Both
men deny the accusations, but “the allegation that a conspiracy
was devised at the very top of the venerable auction houses
raises the stakes in the investigation, which has already roiled
the world of art collectors.” New
York Times 04/07/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
-
PILING
ON: As many as 200 Australian art
and antique dealers may file lawsuits against Sotheby's and
Christie's, charging the auction houses with collusion on fixing
commissions during the 1990s.
Sydney Morning Herald 03/30/00
-
NO
NEVER MIND: Word is that the spring's
auction house sales will be as strong as ever in a robust market,
despite investigations of Sotheby's/Christie's. New
York Times 03/27/00
(one-time registration required for entry)
-
IT
WAS THE BEST OF TIMES? Record profits
and good times defined the past few years in the art auction
business. But the prosperity might have been an unsustainable
illusion for auction giants Sotheby's and Christie's. "Their
old-money monopoly on taste had been unraveling for years, as
the Internet began to make buying-by-bid both digital and -
gasp - democratic." New
York Magazine 03/20/00
-
AWASH
IN MONEY: The world's two auction
giants may be having their difficulties, but the art market
is the strongest it's been in years. London
Telegraph 03/13/00
-
E-BAY
DENIES REPORT that it will buy troubled
auction house Sotheby's for $1.6 billion. Wired
02/29/00
-
A
MATTER OF HONESTY: For all Al Taubman's
fabulous success running Sotheby's these last 17 years, he forgot
one thing, writes Thomas Hoving: "the basic point about
what Sotheby's had to be. Honest. The opposite of caveat emptor.
Clean. Never-a-scandal. Caesar's wife. Or, to quote from a renowned
1928 court of appeals ruling, 'Not honesty alone but the punctilio
of an honor the most sensitive.' " Artnet.com
02/28/00
-
NO
PAIN, NO GAIN: "Pessimists
are worried that Christie's and Sotheby's may not even survive
the crisis. Derek Johns, a London dealer who was once a director
of Sotheby's, says, 'It would be devastating if they became
bankrupt.' The optimists, on the other hand, say that Christie's
and Sotheby's have survived drama and scandal in the past, and
that a better, more competitive and less arrogant art market
may eventually come out of all this." London
Telegraph 02/28/00
-
E-BAY
TO BUY SOTHEBY'S? Five-year-old
eBay is reported to be interested in buying the troubled 256-year-old
auction house. Valued by the stock market, eBay is worth nearly
$20 billion, 16 times Friday's closing price for Sotheby's.
The
Independent 02/27/00
-
OF
SINS AND SCANDALS: So what's a little
collusion? Other auction house practices may be legal, but they're
far from fair.
Artnewsroom.com 02/28/00
-
SELLERS'
MARKET: "This sends a bolt of
lightning through the marketplace," said Scott Black, president
of Delphi Management, a Boston money-management firm, and a
serious collector who has spent tens of millions of dollars
on fine paintings. "When you step into that auction room
and raise your hand, you assume it's a fair market. . . . I
think a lot of people are going to think twice about the spring
auctions." Washington
Post 02/27/00
-
BLOOD
IN THE WATER:
With Sotheby's and Christie's busy with investigators, the auction-house
competition behind them consolidates. After buying Phillips,
the world's third largest auction house, less than four months
ago, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton buys Tajan, France's largest
auction house. The deal will allow Phillips to enter the French
auction market, which remains closed to foreign auctioneers.
It will also give Tajan's customers access to the London and
New York markets, where Phillips has sales and where taxes are
lower than in France. New
York Times 02/25/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
-
Sotheby's/Christie's
problems could level the playing field.
BusinessWeek
02/25/00
-
AMAZON
TO BUY SOTHEBY'S? The auction house's
share price surges Wednesday on speculation that the company
is ripe for a takeover. Financial
Times 02/24/00
-
SELLING
SCRAMBLE: With the spring art auction
season approaching, Christie's and Sotheby's scramble to get
works to sell. Sellers are eager to take advantage of the high
markets, but many are wondering what effect the collusion scandal
will have. New York
Times 02/24/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
-
"EXPENSIVE
BUT NOT LIFE-THREATENING": New
chairman of Sotheby's, on the job just one day, brushes aside
his company's plunging stock price and predicts the auction
company will come out intact from the US Government's investigation
of collusion. New
York Times 02/23/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
-
Europeans
to join in lawsuits against auction houses.
London Times
02/23/00
-
So
what's the case for collusion, why's
it so wrong and can the auction houses talk their way out of
trouble?
Slate 02/23/00
-
DON'T
GET MAD, GET EVEN: Australian
art dealer Chris Deutscher believed giant auction houses Sotheby's
and Christie's nearly ran him out of business. So he closed
up his gallery and opened upstart Australian auction house Deutscher
Menzies. The firm is finding its niche, prospering, even, as
the Sotheby/Christie's scandal widens - DM racked up a 50 per
cent increase in sales this past year. Sydney
Morning Herald 02/23/00
-
THAT
HAPPENED UNDER THE OLD GUYS: As US
investigation into collusion between the top auction houses
widens, chief executives at Sotheby's suddenly resign yesterday.
New
York Times 02/22/00
(one-time
registration required for entry)
- STEP IN STEP: A wave of
lawsuits against Christie's and Sotheby's for price fixing amidst
a pattern of seemingly lockstep behavior.
New York Times 02/21/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)
-
CHRISTIE'S/SOTHEBY'S
PRICE FIXING SCANDAL could have big
repercussions for art Down Under. Sydney
Morning Herald 02/09/00
-
Australian
dealers have long suspected collusion.
The Age (Melbourne) 02/09/00
-
"A
SCANDAL TO SHAKE THE ART MARKET TO ITS FOUNDATIONS": Christie's
auction house has turned state's evidence and told anti-trust
investigators from the United States Justice Department about
an alleged deal with Sotheby's to limit competition on sellers'
commissions. Watch for the lawsuits to start flying. London
Telegraph 02/07/00
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