Journalist Sam Knight gave Sotheby’s, billionaire owner Patrick Drahi on Monday New Yorker treat. While the nearly 12,000-word profile covers a lot of basics, one of the most explosive bits is about two-thirds of the journey during the narrative period: Sotheby’s disastrous attempt to overhaul its cost structure last year.
The program, announced in February 2024, initially required a standardized seller commission rate with a limit of 10%, a hammer price of $500,000 and a lower estimate at less than $5 million. Under these terms, the buyer’s premium is 20% of the price of a hammer up to $6 million, above which it lowers to 10%.
However, in December, the auction house overturned the course, acknowledging efforts to “create transparency, simplicity and fairness to expenses” ultimately drove the business away.
exist New Yorker Knight spoke with dozens of current and former Sotheby’s employees who said the cost crash was Nadir of Drachy’s ownership, likening it to Trump’s obsession with tariffs and trade disputes.
A former executive told America New Yorker. “Is this, why do you do this?”
A Sotheby’s employee even described the six months when Sotheby’s profits fell, namely “Shakespeare.”
Knight further reported that the chairman of the House lobbying Drahi directly in June 2024 to withdraw the new fees, and Grégoire Billaut, chairman of contemporary art, reportedly told Drahi: “You need to do something.” Billaut continued: “I’m losing business. I’m never losing. Now I lose, I can’t accept it anymore.”
In Knight’s story, Drachy is angry and tells Bilaut: “If that’s how you feel, then go out the door… It’s not democracy. It’s my company, I run this company. Ultimately, you all, every one of you, every one of you can replace it.”
Sotheby’s did not return a request for comment at press time.
