Sotheby’s hands huge pay day to billionaire owner Patrick Drahi

Sotheby’s paid a huge dividend to its billionaire owner Patrick Drahi despite a tick down in its financial performance amid reports a minority stake could be sold to ease debt concerns.

The UK arm of the auctions giant has paid £66m in dividends, according to newly-filed documents with Companies House, as its turnover and pre-tax profit dipped during its latest financial year.

The results show the Sotheby’s UK division reported a turnover of £144.8m for 2023, down from £150.9m.

Auction sales fell from £131.3m to £125.8m while private sales dipped slightly from £19.5m to £19m.

Sotheby’s pre-tax profit also went from £29.9m to £27.2m over the same period.

A dividend of £41m was paid during the year while £25m was paid in June 2024.

Sotheby’s was acquired in 2019 by French telecommunications billionaire Patrick Drahi through his company Bidfair for $3.7bn.

In a statement signed off by the board, Sotheby’s said: “The directors are satisfied with Sotheby’s result in 2023.

“The directors remain confident of Sotheby’s long-term success and continue to selectively invest in global initiatives.”

The results come after reports emerged towards the end of 2023 that bankers had sounded out potential buyers for a minority stake in Sotheby’s.

Drahi has come under pressure to sell assets at his indebted telecoms group Altice while those approached have included European billionaires and the Qatar Investment Authority, according to the FT.

The business was established in 1744 in London by Samuel Bake and is now headquartered in New York.