February 25, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 23, 1423

NEW YORK: The auction house Sotheby’s has been taken off the auction block after the family behind the business failed to find a buyer.

The Taubman family, which controls the 259-year-old auctioneers, the other day said that an eight month-long attempt to sell their stake had been abandoned. Potential buyers were said to have been deterred by the legal entanglements following charges of price-fixing with rival Christies.

Sotheby’s said in a statement that it had received “considerable interest” in the company but that a “satisfactory conclusion could not be reached”.

The art world was scandalized by the price-fixing conspiracy that ended with the imprisonment of former chairman Alfred Taubman. The 78-year-old was sentenced to a year and a day’s jail by the US district court judge, who described the crime as motivated by “arrogance and greed”.

The two auction houses were found to have rigged the market by colluding to set non-negotiable commission prices to ensure their continuing profitability. Sotheby’s and Christies account for about 90 per cent of the world’s live auctions of art, jewelry and furniture.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.