N e w s

Alfred Taubman announced his retirement from the chairman position, Diana Brooks is going to leave the positions of chief executive and president of this famous auction house.

"This was a tough decision for me", said Alfed Taubman, a holder of Sotheby's control share. - "But time has come for me to leave". Mrs. Brooks said that she is pround of Sotheby's achievements in the recent years and is sure that the company's further activity and reputation will be above all praise."

Today Sotheby's reputation is questionable as is its main rival's in the art business - Christie's. The Financial Times reported recently that the two auction companies were making secret agreements in order to puff up prices on some works of art. It also states that the two rivals had agreed to make lot owners increase the commission.

The US Justice Ministry started a special investigation of the case. Christie's was able to make a claim that the violations were inherited from the former office as the company owners and top management had recently changed. However, the company's cooperation with the police, for which it was promised a "conditional amnesty", will not rescue the company from civil suits and western police. Sotheby's is in a much worse situation.The only way out for it is to follow the rival's example. Now Sotheby's will be able to blame its former management for the violations.

"This is terrible, really terrible. It has turned out that no one can be trusted in art world", one of the veterans of art business was expressing his bewildermen in the interview to Financial Times. Less hypocritical participants of this business state that the two leading auction companies have just got impertinent. The dishonesty could be suspected already several years ago when in 1992 both companies increased their commission to the same level with a six week difference. Three years later the commission scale was again altered synchronously.

The analysts note that the scandal around the two largest auction houses is being escalated just at the right time before an on-line auction of eBay. The company, the market capital of which reaches $20 billion, can now easily become a leading players in the art business of the coming millenium.

Source: Gazeta.ru