Bloomberg Keeps Score: Christie’s, 80; Sotheby’s, 60
Lindsay Pollock is out sleuthing on the auction house layoffs. Here’s what she dug up from Christie’s:
Christie’s has cut about 80 employees in the New York office, said one staffer who was let go and asked not to be identified. The cuts were made across departments, including contemporary art, 19th-century art, prints and administrative.
“Virtually all departments and geographies are affected by the reorganization,” Christie’s spokesman Toby Usnik said in an e-mail statement. He declined to provide details.
And the details for Sotheby’s:
Among those let go are Christopher Gaillard, the head of the contemporary-print department who was considered a rising star as an auctioneer, and John Tancock, the art scholar and a senior vice president.
Sotheby’s staff reductions have cut across departments, seniority levels and offices, according to these employees. Longtime experts in ceramics and French and English furniture were among those fired. About half of the nine jobs in the Los Angeles office were terminated, as well as staffers in the Chicago and Miami offices.