landmarks

This page is indicative only.

It covers -

• beginnings
• diversification
• online

     beginnings

1744 first book auction by Samuel Baker

1766 James Christie opens salesrooms

1788 John Sotheby inherits Baker's business

1793 Bonhams founded by Thomas Dodd and Walter Bonham

1864 Sotheby's becomes Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge

1965 Butterfields founded by William Butterfield

1955 Sotheby's opens office in New York

     diversification

1966 Christie's launches specialist wine department

1967 Sotheby's acquires Parke-Bernet, becomes Sotheby's Parke-Bernet

1967 opens offices in Houston, Los Angeles and Paris

1967 Times-Sotheby Index launched

1968 Sotheby's opens offices in Toronto, Florence and Melbourne

1969 Sotheby's opens offices in Zürich, Edinburgh, Munich and Johannesburg

1970 Sotheby's launches specialist wine department

1970 MGM Studios auction

1970 Times-Sotheby Index ceases

1973 Christie's IPO

1974 Sotheby's buys Mak van Waay

1974 Sotheby's opens offices in Stockholm, Milan, Brussels and Dublin

1977 Sotheby's IPO

1979 Sotheby's opens office in Madrid, Rome and Hamburg

1983 Alfred Taubman buys control of Sotheby Parke Bernet Group plc

1989 Sotheby's opens offices in Tokyo and Budapest

1990 Sotheby's annual sales reach US$3.2bn

     online

1995 eBay founded by Pierre Omidyar

1995 Christie's buys Great Estates (est 1987)

1998 eBay reported to earn US$2.4m on US$47m sales

1999 Christie's acquired by François Pinault

1999 launch of sothebys.com

1999 eBay pays US$260m for offline collectibles auctioneer Butterfield & Butterfield

1999 buys auction auctioneer Kruse International

2001 buys 19.5% stake in Latin American auction service MercadoLibre (est 1999)

2001 Alfred Taubman (former Sotheby's chair) found guilty of conspiring to fix commissions at Sotheby's sales

2001 France allowed foreign art auction houses to conduct sales

2002 eBay sells Butterfield & Butterfield to Bonhams

2002 acquires PayPal (founded 1998) for US$1.5bn

2003 acquires Eachnet, China's leading e-tailer, for US$180m

2003 sells Kruse International back to Kruse family

2003 Bonhams acquires Goodmans

2003 eBay market capitalisation is equivalent to 110% of General Motors

2004 eBay has market capitalisation of US$53bn

2004 PayPal announces it will offer instant credit lines to US customers through agreement with GE Consumer Finance

2004 eBay acquires Indian online marketplace Baazee for US$50m

2004 pays US$149m for mobile.de, German online classifieds site for vehicles

2004 acquires 25% of craigslist, founded 1995

2004 pays US$415m for Rent.com (founded 2001)

2005 pays US$620m for Shopping.com (founded 1998)

2005 agrees to pay US$2.6bn for Skype

2006 agrees to buy sports ticket reseller StubHub for $310m

2006 Sotheby's buys Noortman Master Paintings for US$56.5m

2007 PayPal gains Luxembourg banking licence

2007 Sotheby's France buys Paris auction house Calmels-Cohen

2007 Naspers agrees to buy UK online auction firm Tradus (formerly QXL Ricardo) for US$1.9bn

2008 eBay pays US$1.35bn for web payment firm Bill Me Later and Danish classified advertising companies Den Bla Avis and BilBasen.

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