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Christie’s has agreed to buy classic car auction company Gooding and Company, in a move that will diversify its offerings as the art market weakens.
The auction house, which is owned by Artémis, the holding company of the Pinault family, on Thursday said the purchase “marks a significant milestone for Christie’s, establishing its position in the rapidly expanding classic and collector car market”.
Guillaume Cerutti, chief executive of Christie’s, told the Financial Times the auction house is making the acquisition at a time when its “luxury divisions have increased a lot”, thanks to an influx of new collectors, particularly in Asia. Many customers “who collect art or other luxury items . . . also collect cars”, he added.
It will bring the auction house back to the classic car market, which it exited in 2007, although it has continued to sell cars as part of specific collections, such as a Bentley once owned by singer Elton John that was sold for $441,000 earlier this year.
Gooding and Co was founded in 2003 by married couple David Gooding and Dawn Ahrens. Among the cars sold recently by Gooding are a 1995 McLaren F1 sold for $20.47mn in 2021 and a 1970 Porsche 917K, which sold for $14.1mn in 2017.
Gooding, who is president of his eponymous auction house, once worked at Christie’s. His company has in the past partnered with the luxury items broker on car-related projects and delivered valuations for cars in client collections, Cerutti said.
The Christie’s chief did not disclose the value of the deal, although he said it is the auction house’s biggest in two decades. It is expected to close before the end of 2024.
François-Henri Pinault, who chairs Artémis, said: “The ambition and values of David Gooding, and his team, align perfectly with those of Christie’s. They also correspond with those of the other businesses in which the Pinault family has long been invested, in the fields of art and culture, luxury, and lifestyle.”
The acquisition comes at a challenging time for the auction industry. Christie’s reported a 22 per cent year-on-year decline in auction sales for the first half of 2024. Less than a month ago rival Sotheby’s also announced an 88 per cent drop in its first-half core earnings and a 25 per cent fall in auction sales.
