Sotheby’s Is Shaping Up Fine for Billionaire Patrick Drahi
The pandemic hit just after the billionaire took the auction house private. But stars could be aligning for a sale back to the stock market.
Botticelli.
Photographer: Tolga Akmen/AFP
Billionaire Patrick Drahi may be an art lover, but he is also an opportunist. The soaring fortunes of the wealthy, along with the art world’s digital revolution, must create a strong temptation to sell a piece of Sotheby’s back to the stock market just two years after he took the auction house private.
When Drahi agreed to buy Sotheby’s at a $3.7 billion valuation in June 2019, the acquisition looked primarily like the purchase of a long-term trophy asset. The entrepreneur said the investment was for his family. He would maintain the firm’s strategy, and telecoms and media would stay his principal focus. The auctioneer’s board said the company could develop faster in private ownership and would be in excellent hands “for decades to come.”