Christie’s to acquire classic car auction house

Christie’s revealed this week it will acquire Gooding & Company, an auction house specialising in collector cars, in a move to pull back into the car industry and further diversify its luxury offerings. Christie’s has entered an acquisition agreement and is in negotiations, the auction house said. At the end of the transaction—expected to close before the end of the year—Gooding & Company will be renamed Gooding Christie’s.

Gooding & Company was founded in 2003 by president David Gooding and his wife Dawn Ahrens, who serves as chief creative officer. Gooding previously worked as the managing director of the International Motor Sports department at Christie’s before the auction house exited the car market in 2007, as well as serving as president of RM Auctions before it was acquired by rival Sotheby’s in 2015 (the company is now called RM Sotheby’s).

Since Gooding & Company began, it has brought in nearly $3bn, according to Christie’s.

“We are confident that the combination of resources will provide many opportunities for significant global growth,” Christie’s chief executive Guillaume Cerutti said in a statement.

In July, Christie’s reported that its total revenue from live and online auction sales during the first half of 2024 had reached $2.1bn worldwide, roughly $600m less than the opening six months of 2023, representing a drop of 22%. (“Despite a decline in our total auction sales, resilience is the key word to characterise Christie’s results for the first half of the year,” Cerutti said at the time.) After record results at car auctions in the past few years, recent sales have cooled, indicating a softening market that is not unlike the one being experienced by the art world.

François-Henri Pinault, the billionaire chairman of Christie’s holding company Groupe Artémis, said in a statement that the Gooding & Company acquisition aligns with the “other businesses in which the Pinault family has long been invested, in the fields of art and culture, luxury and lifestyle. We are excited to support the development of Gooding & Company and explore new collaborations.” (Pinault is the president and chief executive of Kering, which includes brands like Gucci, Yves San Laurent and Bottega Veneta.)

Luxury goods contributed 20% of the $5bn in auction sales made by Christie’s in 2023, as demand for rare wines, watches, jewellery and designer handbags acelerates. The sector can also attract younger customers and convince them to keep coming back for other goods: according to Christie’s, 38% of new and returning handbag clients bought or bid in another department last year.