It’s just a whisper at the moment but it may well be the case that Francois Pinault is considering the sale of his Christie’s auction house which he bought in May 1998 for $1.2 billion.
The speculation is based on one obvious fact: at circa €4.7bn, Artemis, Mr Pinault’s holding company, is carrying too much debt.
And while all auctions across Bonhams, Sotheby’s and Christie’s haven’t experienced a great year, Christie’s has already cut a couple of departments, shrunk others, let a few employees go and plan more reorganization for the company in January.
