Artprice (New York) - Thierry Ehrmann

Patrick Drahi's Acquisition of Sotheby's Confirms the Art Market's Entry Into the Digital Era of the 21st Century

NEW YORK, June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Thierry Ehrmann: "Patrick Drahi's acquisition of Sotheby's confirms the Art Market's entry into the digital era of the 21st century. Artprice has always argued that the global Art Market -- weighing roughly 90 billion dollars -- was several decades behind in terms of digital culture and Internet."

Fine Art auction turnover for the world two major auction houses: Christie's and Sotheby's  [https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2019/06/artprice-sothebys-vs-christies.png]

"So it's great news for the Art Market and Artprice to see Sotheby's – the only listed auction operator -- being acquired by Patrick Drahi, a 55-year-old global entrepreneur with a portfolio of telecommunications, media and digital companies. The offer price, which represents a premium of 61% to Sotheby's closing price on June 14, 2019, and a 56% premium to the company's 30 trading-day volume weighted average share price, reflects Patrick Drahi's genuine confidence in Sotheby's capacity for exponential development via a digital mutation."

Artprice: "Since 2000, the Art Market has enjoyed a period of distinctly virtuous growth, becoming an efficient market with a return on investment of almost 7% per year and a volume growth of 450%. For much of this period, the backdrop to this growth has been a savings environment of zero or even negative interest rates in the eurozone. Meanwhile, the market itself has evolved from roughly 500,000 art collectors after WWII to nearly 90 million Art Consumers today, the vast majority of whom are completely at ease with new technologies."

Thierry Ehrmann: "The soft power of the world' major powers is a powerful geopolitical driver for the growth and development of the Museum Industry. Artprice was one of the first players to appreciate and conceptualize the global importance of this industry. As we analysed in an earlier study, more museums opened between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2014 than during the previous two centuries. Every year approximately 700 new museums with international standing – each holding a minimum of 4,500 artworks – open their doors on five continents, representing one of the primary sustainable drivers of the global Art Market."