NEW YORK - The 275-year-old auction house Sotheby’s is being sold to a French Israeli businessman for about $3.7 billion. Sotheby’s, founded in London in 1744, is the oldest company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The New York company, which started in London, holds auctions in 10 salesrooms worldwide with annual sales turnover exceeding $4 billion. Sotheby’s counterpart in London, Christies, founded by James Christie in 1766, was sold to another French businessman, François Pinault, in the late 1980s. Peter Paul Rubens’ “The Massacre of the Innocents” was sold in London (49.5 million pounds).

Source: thestar June 17, 2019 21:56 UTC