Timeline Sotheby's Christie's

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Time Line: The Rise Of Christie's And Sotheby's Anna Rohleder 1744 Sotheby's is founded by book dealer Samuel Baker. 1766 Christie's is founded by James Christie, who resigns from a Navy commission to take up auctioneering. 1964 Sotheby's buys New York auction house Parke-Bernet and expands internationally. 1973 Christie's becomes a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange. 1977 Christie's opens salesroom in New York. September 1983 A. Alfred Taubman buys Sotheby's. 1988 Taubman takes Sotheby's public. November 1992 Sotheby's increases commissions for buyers. December 1992 Christie's also increases buyers' commissions. 1993 Sotheby's Chief Executive Diana Brooks and her counterpart at Christie's, Christopher Davidge, meet and begin to discuss ways of sharing the business. March 1995 Christie's introduces fixed sliding-scale fee for sellers, thus excluding option of negotiating more favorable rates. April 1995 Sotheby's follows suit with fixed sellers' fees. 1997 U.S. Justice Department begins antitrust investigation into the two auction houses' business practices. May 1998 French tycoon Francois Pinault, one of the richest men in France, buys Christie's for just over $1 billion and takes it private. November 1999 Pinault's arch rival, Bernard Arnault, buys Phillips auction house for $100 million and folds it into his LVMH luxury-goods conglomerate. December 1999 Christie's CEO Christopher Davidge resigns with a $7 million severance package. January 2000 Davidge turns over a trove of documents describing the price-fixing scheme and how it came about to federal investigators in return for conditional amnesty. January 2000 Christie's announces it is cooperating with the government in the antitrust investigation. January 2000 Clients of both Christie's and Sotheby's file hundreds of civil lawsuits,

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