Bab 657: Chapter 657: Throwing stones at someone who is already in the well
Christie's headquarters at 8 King Street in London, England.
It is bustling with activity as preparations are made for the summer auction to be held in ten days' time.
Christie's summer auctions are held half a month after Sotheby's.
News about Sotheby's auction house is flying around today, and as bitter rivals who have been competing for two hundred years, the head of Christie's is naturally very concerned.
In the office of Chairman Herman Woods, the over-fifty Herman Woods sits at his desk, listening to the general manager of auction house operations, Hunter Simpson, report the situation to him.
After the briefing, Hunter Simpson expressed his concern: 'Chairman, it seems that the current situation is mainly targeting Chinese cultural relics. I just don't know if Sotheby's or Eskenazi Ltd. has offended someone, or if all Chinese cultural relics are being targeted indiscriminately.'
'If all Chinese cultural relics are being targeted indiscriminately, then we have to be prepared.'
Herman Woods frowned upon hearing this, obviously thinking that Hunter Simpson's concerns were not unfounded.
'How many Chinese cultural relics will our company auction off at the next summer auctions?'
Herman Woods asked suddenly after thinking for a long time.
Hunter Simpson immediately replied as if he knew the answer: 'There are 36 Chinese cultural relics at the auction in St. James's, London, of which 18 are provided by Aisikenazi Co., Ltd.'
'There will be 25 Chinese cultural relics at the auction in New York, of which 11 are provided by Aisikenazi Co., Ltd.'
'...
On hearing this, Herman Woods's face fell a little. After thinking for a moment, he ordered, 'It's not clear what the real reason is, and it's too late to withdraw now. We must prepare in advance.'
'First, we must strictly control admission qualifications.'
'In addition, arrange for some people to bid on these Chinese cultural relics to ensure that each one has our people at the bottom, but remember not to bid too high.'
In Herman Woods' opinion, Sotheby's and Eskenazi Ltd. got into trouble because they were caught off guard by an unknown enemy and were exposed before they could deal with it.
In fact, these measures are very simple and easy to deal with, but it is undeniable that surprise attacks work very well.
The countermeasures he is talking about now are to prevent these risks, and in the absence of other measures, they are absolutely effective.
Hunter Simpson immediately nodded in agreement: 'I understand, I'll get right on it.'
Herman Woods then asked, "Hunter, is there anything else you'd like to add?'
Hunter Simpson hesitated for a moment, and a sinister look appeared on his face as he said, "Chairman, the stock price of Sotheby's has definitely fallen quite a bit now. As long as it remains in the eye of the storm, it will definitely be dragged into the mud. I think this is a rare opportunity. Should we secretly do something?'
Herman Woods's heart stirred, and he remembered the past hundred or two years of being the runner-up. He made up his mind and gave a smile: 'You go ahead and make the arrangements. Remember to be discreet, and don't let it have anything to do with us.'
'I understand! Don't worry!'
After watching Hunter Simpson leave, Herman Woods stretched and let out a long breath.
He lowered his head and looked at the newspaper in his hands. The words of Hunter Simpson came back to his mind, and his heart gradually grew hot.
The Woods family was the third owner of Christie's Auction House.
The first owner was the founder, James Christie, and Christie's Auction House was passed down in the Christie family for two generations, a total of 65 years.
The second owner was William Hanson, who was in charge for 28 years.
Then in 1859, Thomas Woods, the great-grandfather of Herman Woods, took over Christie's and has now passed it on to him. It has been in the Woods family for four generations, and Christie's has long since been branded with the Woods family seal.
However, for more than a century, the Woods family has diligently developed the auction house, but they have never been able to catch up with Sotheby's, and they have always been under the other party's thumb.
Now that Sotheby's is in crisis and it is obvious that someone is playing tricks on them, Herman Woods is really tempted.
If this opportunity is seized, it will definitely deal a severe blow to Sotheby's reputation.
The one thing that can be thought of right now is that at least in the next few years, Sotheby's Chinese cultural relics auction business will definitely not be good.
As long as Sotheby's does not solve the problem and announce it to the public, collectors will definitely have psychological reservations.
Although this business is not Sotheby's main contributor, it is not small, is it?
With one losing, the other gaining, maybe this opportunity will allow Christie's to surpass Sotheby's!
Thinking of this, Herman Woods's heart grew hotter and hotter. He felt that it was not enough to let Hunter Simpson add insult to injury, so he immediately set off to mobilise the power of his family to seize this opportunity to stomp on Sotheby's hard.
Rivals are like enemies, nothing more!
...
Escenazhi Co. and Sotheby's were already overwhelmed, and the situation got worse over the next two days.
Xia Yu's people kept leaking information to major newspapers, which were of course keen to report the news for the sake of sales, completely harming others for their own gain.
Christie's had been competing with Sotheby's for many years and knew the other auction house inside out, so it was very effective to add insult to injury.
In just two days, the market value of Sotheby's, which was surrounded by all kinds of negative advice, plummeted from £292 million to £220 million, a drop of nearly 25%, and the price-earnings ratio fell to around 9 times.
Although Christie's was also affected by the storm, the impact was not great, and its share price only fluctuated a little. At this time, it surpassed Sotheby's with a market value of 235 million pounds.
On hearing the news, Herman Woods was overjoyed.
Giuseppe Eskenazi, Managing Director of Eskenazi Ltd., was furious, and directly crumpled the newspaper in his hands into a ball and smashed it on the ground.
'Damn the media, they have no bottom line when it comes to sales, especially the Sun, it's as disgusting as manure!'
Giuseppe Eskenazi angrily cursed.
He didn't know where the Sun got the data, but it had accurately counted all the information about the lots provided by Eskenazi Ltd. and the data about the lots that had failed to sell, which he had been too busy to cover up.
With the Sun's influence, once the report was published, it immediately attracted the attention of a large number of readers.
In the stock market, this was reflected in a sharp fall in the share price of Eskenazi Ltd, from £78 million to £55 million, and it was still falling.
It was clear that the capital was very pessimistic about Eskenazi Ltd's revenue this year and its future prospects.
After such a thing had happened, anyone in their right mind would realise that the Chinese cultural relics market would be in a slump for years to come, and Eskenazi Ltd's new business venture had been directly ruined.
'Knock, knock!'
Hearing the knock on the door, Giuseppe Eskenazi took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and coldly said, 'Come in!'
Soon, the door opened, and in came his cousin Robert Eskenazi, whom he had arranged to investigate the situation. Now he came over, did he find out any news?
Thinking about this, Giuseppe Eskenazi hurriedly asked, 'Robert, what is the situation of the investigation?'
Robert Eskenazi gave a wry smile, shook his head and sighed, 'The identities of the five people have been checked, and they are just ordinary people. However, the enemy should have expected us to investigate, so as soon as the auction ended, they arranged for the five of them to leave the country. Now they are probably all vacationing in unknown places.'
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