(Bloomberg) -- Christie’s Inc. will acquire the Los Angeles-based car consigner Gooding & Co. in a transaction expected to close by the end of the year. The deal, announced on Thursday for an undisclosed sum, is said to be Christie’s largest in more than two decades.
“We are confident that the combination of resources will provide many opportunities for significant global growth,” said Guillaume Cerutti, Christie’s chief executive officer, in an email.
The purchase will help diversify Christie’s offerings as the art market weakens. In the first six months of 2024, Christie’s auction sales declined 22% year over year, to $2.1 billion—roughly half the $4.1 billion achieved during the same time period in 2022. The auction house exited car auctions in 2007, though it’s continued to sell cars as part of specific collections.
Simon Kidston, an analyst and consultant who founded the K500 Index of classic car data, calls the lockup a perfect match. “Christie’s financial firepower and network should help take the company forward beyond its limitations as a family concern,” he says.
Even competitors are calling the consolidation a smart decision.
“This is great news for the auction industry,” says Rob Myers, chairman and CEO of RM Sotheby’s. “There’s certainly enough room in the market for both of us. Having other players at the top of their game fosters healthy competition and raises the standard across the industry.”
The deal announcement comes after months of cooling sales and vicious competition between automotive auction houses as consumers tighten their purses amid geopolitical unrest, rising interest rates and general economic uncertainty in an election year.
“Oversaturated” is the word collectors and brokers have been using to describe the current market. Too many cars are coming to market as the pendulum from the post-Covid buying bonanza in 2021 and 2022 is now swinging to enthusiasts who want to sell. Auction houses have been all too eager to capitalize on that glut, but the result has been too many similar cars being offered at the same time, wearying already-wary consumers.
“I see this as good news for both buyers and sellers wanting a fresh auction approach which combines professionalism and passion with global coverage,” Kidston says.
Earlier this year, RM Sotheby’s and Hagerty Inc.’s Broad Arrow went head to head during the Florida auctions in Miami and Amelia Island, a schism that likely cannibalized some sales and separated some otherwise would-be buyers and sellers. At Monterey Car Week in August, weeklong totals when auctions closed hit $371 million, down 8% from 2023, according to data provided by Hagerty, well below the bonanza days of $469 million sold in 2022. Half of the vehicles sold failed to realize their low price estimate.
“Consolidation is probably overdue, with too many auctions chasing too few fresh cars,” Kidston says.
David Gooding, president of Gooding, worked for Christie’s in the 1990s; the 258-year-old auction house led the classic car market for years with record-breaking sales like that of the 1931 Bugatti 41 Royale at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1987. He founded his eponymous company with his wife, Dawn Ahrens, in 2003. Gooding will retain his position after the deal closes, and the company will maintain its LA headquarters, a spokesperson said. No other staffing changes are planned, the spokesperson said.
Founded in 1766, Christie’s maintains offices in 46 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, with international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. The auction house is owned by Artémis, the holding company of the Pinault family.
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