Sotheby’s earnings plummet by 88 per cent in first half of year

Sotheby’s core earnings have fallen by 88 per cent in the first half of 2024, with a 25 per cent decline in auction sales, reports the Financial Times. The revelation comes from an earnings report sent to investors and seen by the FT. The beleaguered owner of Sotheby’s, Patrick Drahi, has been looking to cut debt throughout his business empire which largely comprises telecoms companies. In 2021 he bought 18 per cent of BT and in 2023 increased his stake to 24.5 per cent funded through loans and derivative funding. In August of this year, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, ADQ, struck a deal with Drahi for a minority stake in the auction house worth $1bn. In July, Christie’s reported a 22 per cent drop in sales over the same period.

A group of researchers have published an open letter condemning Chinese interference in French cultural institutions. The letter published in Le Monde identifies the Musée du quai Branly and the Musée Guimet as two museums in France that have adopted language preferred by the People’s Republic of China. It cites examples including ‘Tibet’ being replaced by ‘Xizang Autonomous Region’ in the Musée du Quai Branly’s catalogue of Tibetan objects, describing this as an attempt to ‘erase the non-Han peoples who have been integrated or annexed by the PRC.’ Last October, an exhibition on Genghis Khan at the Château des ducs de Bretagne in Nantes opened after a three-year delay, which the museum claimed was caused by attempted censorship from authorities in Beijing.

The collector Aaron Mendelsohn has filed a lawsuit against the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in an attempt to block its seizure of an ancient Roman bronze. The headless sculpture of a man, which Mendelsohn bought in 2007, is one of a group of works that the DA’s office believe to have been illegally removed from the shrine of Bubon in Turkey in the 1960s. Mendelsohn’s lawyers dispute the evidence presented by the DA’s office. The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago are also challenging the district attorney over items with disputed histories.

Plans for Las Vegas Museum of Art have been approved by the city council, which has agreed to give it 1.5 acres of land in the Symphony Park district for $1. The 90,000-square-foot institution has been designed by architect Francis Kéré and is expected to open in 2028 at a cost of $150m. The museum will operate as an independent nonprofit organisation and is currently described as a partnership between the casino magnate and art collector Elaine Wynn and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where Wynn is co-chair of the board. Both Wynn and LACMA director Michael Govan will sit on the board. It will have no permanent collection of its own. Las Vegas is currently the largest city in the United States without a major art museum.

The Museum of London has been granted an additional £50m by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the City of London Corporation for its new home in Smithfield Market. Each has committed £25m on top of their previous contributions of £95m and £222m. The Museum of London is aiming to raise a total of £437m, of which £20m now remain to be secured. Since closing its former site at London Wall in December 2022, citing a lack of space for its collection, the museum has been renovating the Victorian meat market in the City of London. Permanent galleries are due to open in 2026, with a learning centre, temporary exhibition spaces and collection stores to open from 2028.

Creative Scotland has reopened the Open Fund for Individuals after a U-turn by the Scottish government confirmed the release of £6.6m, but the arts agency is now facing a governmental review. The government had frozen all the funding for Open Fund two weeks ago. Artists, actors and musicians signed an open letter describing the proposed cuts as a ‘cultural catastrophe’. First Minister John Swinney announced that the review would ensure that ‘the appropriate approach is in place to meet the needs of the sector.’