Sotheby's
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| Public company | |
| Traded as | : BID S&P 400 Component |
| Industry | Auctioneering, specialty retail |
| Founded | London, United Kingdom (11 March 1744) |
| Founder | Samuel Baker George Leigh and John Sotheby |
| Headquarters | 1334 York Avenue New York City, USA |
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Number of locations
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90 locations (as of 2012) |
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Area served
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40 countries, worldwide |
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Key people
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Thomas "Tad" Sidney Smith, Jr. (CEO, President), Domenico De Sole, Chairman Michael Goss, CFO and Executive VP |
| Products | Fine arts, books |
| Revenue |
 US$ 853.678 million (2013) |
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US$ 222.575 million (2013) |
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| Profit |
US$ 130.006 million (2013) |
| Total assets |
US$ 2.893 billion (2013) |
| Total equity |
US$ 1.139 billion (2013) |
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Number of employees
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1,577 (Dec 2013) |
| Divisions | Sotheby's New York Sotheby's London Sotheby's Hong Kong Sotheby's Moscow |
| Subsidiaries | Sotheby's International Realty Sotheby's Diamonds Sotheby's Institute of Art Sotheby's Wine Sotheby's Art Storage Facility |
| Website | www |
Sotheby's is a British multinational corporation headquartered in New York City. One of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewelry, real estate, and collectibles, Sotheby's operation is divided into three segments: auction, finance, and dealer. The company’s services range from corporate art services to private sales.
Sotheby’s is the world’s fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation, with 90 locations in 40 countries. As of December 2011, the company had 1,446 employees worldwide. It is the world's largest art business with global sales in 2011 totalling $5.8 billion.
Sotheby’s was established on 11 March 1744 in London. The American holding company was initially incorporated in August 1983 in Michigan. In June 2006, Sotheby’s Holdings, Inc. reincorporated in the State of Delaware and was renamed Sotheby’s. In July 2016, Chinese Insurance Giant Taikang Life became Sotheby's largest shareholder.
Sotheby's predecessor, Baker and Leigh, was founded in London on 11 March 1744, when Samuel Baker presided over the disposal of "several hundred scarce and valuable" books from the library of Rt Hon Sir John Stanley Bt., of Alderley. Three Swedish auction houses are even older (, Göteborgs Auktionsverk, Uppsala auktionskammare) and Sotheby's great rival in London and then New York, Christie's, dates from 1759 or shortly after. The current business dates back to 1804, when two of the partners of the original business (Leigh and Sotheby) left to set up their own book dealership. The library Napoleon took with him into exile at St Helena, as well as the library collections of John Wilkes, Benjamin Heywood Bright and the Dukes of Devonshire and of Buckingham (both related to George Leigh) were sold through Samuel Baker’s auctions.
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Wikipedia