Sotheby’s lays off staff members from its offices in New York, with the majority of cuts including back-office workers, junior staffers as well as specialists in various departments. A Sotheby’s spokesperson said, “Given the challenges the market has faced this year, we’ve taken a careful look at our business and staffing levels to perform well and grow going forward. 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.”
Sotheby’s is expected to lay off more staff at its international offices. The range of staff cuts include business development roles to senior specialists in the impressionist and modern departments as well as antiquities, Americana, and Japanese art. The layoffs come amidst an increasingly fragmented auction market. Sotheby’s recorded a much lower yield for Impressionist, modern and contemporary art at its November marquee sales in New York ($533.1 million) compared to 2023 ($1.2 billion).
Sotheby’s financial situation has been a source of concern for months after approximately 50 staff were cut at the auction house’s London offices in May. In September, a leaked report detailed an 88 percent decline in core earnings and a 25 percent drop in auction sales in the first half of 2024, followed by a Wall Street Journal report which said the auction house had been “pushing off payments” to art shippers and conservators.
In August Sotheby’s announced an investment of nearly $1 billion from Abu Dhabi’s ADQ sovereign wealth fund; closing the deal in October. Prior to the deal with ADQ, Sotheby’s was solely owned by billionaire telecom magnate Patrick Drahi and had $1.8 billion in debt. As has been widely reported, Drahi’s companies currently have $60 billion in debt, with some loans requiring payment in 2027.
