Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Patrick Drahi Speaks for the First Time in Five Years to Show Support for Sotheby’s

May 29, 2020 by Marion Maneker

Photo by Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock.
This commentary on Patrick Drahi's statement to the press this morning is available to AMMpro subscribers. (The first month of AMMpro is free and subscribers are welcome to sign up for the first month and cancel before they are billed.) 

By Patrick Drahi’s own admission during a press conference this morning announcing Sotheby’s plans for a post-lockdown reopening of the art market, he had not spoken to the press for five years. When the telecom mogul concluded his remarks with the pun that his buying Sotheby’s was like “Altice’s adventures in wonderland,” the world had a better idea why he usually keeps his thoughts to himself.

Although Drahi’s decision to speak was a savvy move, giving the Sotheby’s press event more impact, there was a subtext to the appearance that should not go unnoticed. An April filing notifying bondholders that Sotheby’s would face significant challenges if business remained curtailed by the coronavirus set off a series of wild rumors in the art market about Drahi’s ownership. The filing was made before Sotheby’s management had been able to pivot their sales strategy from live auctions to a series of online events. The surprising success of those events and the prospect of the world emerging from lockdown are only now beginning to be recognized.

At the virtual press event, Drahi's presence helped speed along that recognition. He wasted no time beating back any suggestion that he might have regretted buying Sotheby’s.


Sign up to Art Market Monitor Premium today

You need a membership to AMMpro to view this article and other exclusive content daily.

You can register today for $90 per month—with your first month free!—or for $756 per year (no free trial period.)

Screenshot 2016-08-05 16.28.45

If you already have an account, sign in here:

 
 
Forgot Password

Filed Under: Premium

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Basquiat's Last Girlfriend
  • Aboudia, Zemba Luzamba, Dickens Otieno Anchor Contemporary African Art Sale at Artcurial in Marrakesh
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Cave Painting Porn Discovered
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Selection Bias In Art Is What Creates Value
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor