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Ebay May Bid For Sotheby's
absolute writes, "Who would have thought Ebay the online auction site would ever had a chance to buy the venerable 250-year old auction house Sotheby's? Apparently, Ebay is trying to capitalize on the price fixing scandal at Sotheby's to buy it. The story is here." Hmm. I hope they get Sotheby's sniped from them at the last minute by some guy with a perl script. Update: 02/29 12:04 by R : eBay denies any interest in Sotheby's.
considering the nature of current corporate interrelations, they probably already own each other or are owned by some other corporation.
(flamebait)
Bill Gates is probably the secret owner of eBay, now attempting to monopolize European auctions as well.
if sothebys is going to be sold to ebay on ebay...i think that would be funny at least.
icq:=22921393;
Hmmm, posibility for Picasso's sold on E-Bay. Seriously this could have potential with DSL and VPN. Bids could be verified by digital signatures, and paid for by electronic transfers. Potential for more bidders and higher prices for rarities! Serious bidders could establish holding accounts and have them verified before bidding starts.
"Open code, in other words, can be a check on state power." -Lawrence Lessig
First of all, the idea of Ebay aquiring Sotheby's strikes me as almost the epitome of the e-commerce age conquering the old commerce age (yeah, yeah, cornyy but you get the idea). Sotheby's and Ebay stand at oppposite ends of the auction spectrum, and I can only see that Ebay grabbing Sotheby's as being great for Ebay. For Sotheby's? I'm not so sure.
I'm guessing that Ebay would run Sotheby's as a semi-separate entity, maybe running Sotheby's as the "elite end" of the Ebay site. Ebay could either run Sotheby's exclusively as it is now, could attempt to integrate the two (ie. having net bidding on items for auction at Sotheby's and using this as a "reserve price" for the item), or running Sotheby's as the high-end part of the Ebay site.
Whichever way they go, if Sotheby's is aquired, Ebay will profit. It will be interesting to see what Christie's (Sotheby's 'rival') does if this happens. Will it stay off-line, or enter into a mad rush to try and find a high-profile on-line partner (hello Amazon.com!!).
Cheers,
SuperG
--
The shareholder is always right.
Maybe Bill Gates will auction off Microsoft's pieces when the gov't splits them up.
"Damnit, still noone will buy Windows 2000...even for $.49!!"
We can all hope. I think I will go finish the auctioning off my authentic used socks.
what the hell happened in the late 1990's and early 21st century. Internet companies with sky-high valuations that are bleeding red ink like a stuck pig start buying up the "establishment". Although I have little to no doubt that the internet (and associated technologies) will become integral to our every day life the whole stockmarket side of things reminds me of the Tulipomania that spread through Holland in the 1600's. No matter how big you think the internet will be, "investment" companies with no profits and no prospect of profits for some time cannot be considered anything more than speculation (Especially in the high-tech field where things can change so quickly).!
There, did that get off-topic quick enough for you all.
The auction house Ebay wants to buy is very well respected -- if Ebay is successful in buying them out, it'll just be proof to the world that E-commerce is real and is here to stay.
;)
Granted, Ebay is less than ideal because really all that goes on there is the sale of junk items (and lots of scams, etc.), but it is still e-commerce and it still has huge name recognition. Now here is the big question:
If this merger takes place, will Ebay become more like Southeby's or vice-versa?
While I'm a capitalist through and through, I don't believe in buying something just to make a quick buck. I though eBay was above just grabbing quick distressed property. Stockholders be damned, strong companies follow strong ethical standards. If Sotheby's is involved in a scandal, no one should touch them. Buying them is just crass.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Did anyone else read that as a link for other companies (maybe amazon?) to offer competing bids on Sotheby's?
"Bid" turns out to be the ticker symbol for Sotheby Holdings, Inc.
--
The shareholder is always right.
My idea had, at first, been a silly one.. but now that I think about it:
Is Ebay buying the company or the building that Sotheby's uses (assuming that they own a building that they hold their auctions in).
So, it's a dumb question. Sue me. You won't get much, I'm poor.
Insert mind here.
Dear eBay,
e m&item=5789731987123
& item=5789731987123
Heads up! Another eBay user has outbid you on the following item!
SOTHEBY'S AUCTION HOUSE
The current bid amount is: $1,600,000,000.25
The auction closes : Mar-21-00 09:21:24 PST
Of course, your existing bid may be reinstated if this competitor's bid falls through. You can keep an eye on things if there's still plenty time before the auction closes. Visit
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt
Otherwise, you can stay in the running and place another bid. Just visit http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem
Safety tip: now that you're no longer the high bidder, you may be contacted by the seller or another person to sell you a similar item without going through eBay. Because this is against eBay rules and we cannot track such transactions, you would not be eligible for eBay's services that protect buyers, such as insurance or mediation.
If you have any questions, be sure to visit our Help section; it's best to email us from there rather than replying to this message, as replies here can't be processed. Just click http://pages.ebay.com/help/index.html
Good luck with your bidding!
I was wondering if anybody has any of these scripts setup? I always read about them but the only things that I can find are Win32 clients that do this.
Also, what if I'm sniping on multiple auctions. (Let's say 100) What would be the easiest way to do this? Maybe using crontab, but that doesn't support second accuracy. I guess coding a scheduler in Java is probably the best way to go.
Thanks in advance.
Ceterum censeo Microsoftam esse delendam.
I was under the impression that Ebay, along with Amazon, and other such huge internet based companies were not making money. How can they afford to buy another company for 1.6 Billion?
OFTC: By the community, for the community
I think that we will see this alot more in the near future. Companies like Ebay, Amazon etc. need to have something to base the valuations on. An existign company with healthy revenues will be bought and the next year the .com-company will show improved results. Maybe even a profit, sending its valuation even higher. It also alows for bloodsucking the revenues of the acquired company.
:-)
Now the rest of you help me on this, cause it is too late here in the Netherlands
Use Adsense for Charity
Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday February 27, @10:36AM
from the rob-sucks-tarballs dept
Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, accidentally hit his keyboard with his elbow today. We have yet to receive confirmation that the resulting code will be be included in the next development kernel, but we can never be too sure. Here is the code in full:
This won't compile under GCC, so we can only assume the code is pretty experimental. Look for the tarballs to be released this evening.
Torvalds comments, "What? Oh, yeah, I accidentally hit my keyboard with my elbow when I reached to get my tea. What? Is it part of the new kernel? You're kidding, right?"
We'll update the article as soon as we get more information. The Linux world hasn't been in such frenzied anticipation since the release of kernel 2.3.48.9.2.7.42, which was about ten minutes ago.
Interview: Alan Cox farted
Posted by Hemos on Sunday February 27, @10:34AM
from the whats-that-smell dept
Linux guru and hacker-extrodinaire Alan Cox farted earlier today. What do you think this says about the future of Linux development? Alan's ass will respond to the highest moderated posts later this week.
ESR and JonKatz to participate in "Zealot Deathmatch"
Posted by Roblimo on Sunday February 27, @10:33AM
from the die-bitch-die dept
Open source proponent Eric S. Raymond and Slashdot nutcase JonKatz are reportedly organizing a "Zealot Arena Deathmatch" to raise money for the Apache Software Foundation. The fight is expected to be a tough one, because while Katz is genuinely insane, ESR has the power of girly, elfish looks. A spokesman from Apache says that, "while we don't encourage violence, we'll do anything for money."
VA Linux aquired by Klingons, Rob bows down to new alien masters
Posted by emmett on Sunday February 27, @10:32AM
from the star-shit-enterprise dept
VA Linux Systems, owner of Andover.net, owner of Slashdot.org, owner of Rob's ass, was officially aquired by the Klingon Empire earlier this morning. The Klingons, who have recently taken over Kellogs, GM, and Disney, are looking forward to absorbing more major corporations in the near future. The US Government is discussing investigating the Klingons for holding a monopoly over "every aspect of our lives", to which the Klingons responded, "Puny human scum! I will crush you like a bug and feast upon your steaming entrails." Finally, some competition for Microsoft!
Red Hat and VA stock at all time high!
Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday February 27, @10:31AM
from the i-am-so-rich dept
Dude, have you heard the market reports today? I am so fucking rich! If this keeps up, I'll be able to stop doing this Slashdot crap! Hell yeah!
I am the Lord.
I am the Lord.
God Hates Moderators.
I mean, I understand grabbing Sotheby's as it's a depressed commodity... fine and good. But they're expanding out of the financial bubble of the internet into real-world investments that simply don't make the splash that anything .com has.
Do you remember what happened to AOL stock prices as soon as they merged with Time-Warner? They suddenly weren't just an internet company any more and their prices dropped like a rock, same thing could happen here. I would say stick with what you know, stick with the net EBay.
--
RumorsDaily
If eBay buy Sotheby's then the resulting firm is eBay+Sotheby's. If it doesn't perform at least as well as eBay + Sotheby's then the market won't be impressed. "Bloodsucking the revenues of the aquired company" may be good if those revenues can produce better returns in the e-industry than in the traditional industry. If not, the combined company's shareprice will dive when it fails to make good earnings.
For an internet company to buy a traditional company makes good sense, because it means more diversification and less risk. If the market suddenly gets scared of e-commerce then the whole company won't be worthless. This is just the same as big companies whose assets include Dollars, Yen and Euros. If one currency nosedives, then the company doesn't get hit too hard.
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
Will Sotheby's rip eBay off and not send them their properety deed, just like the other sellers on online auctions? Or will they just take the money and run, leaving eBay without support for their new auction company they bought?
(Just ranting, hope you find the above funny)
US businesses that currently accept chip and PIN/signature
... but I believe there were examples of companies whose stock had very large price/earnings ratios in the 19th century, and who managed to maintain their share prices as they expanded and became more profitable. Of course 19th century stock markets were somewhat different from those today.
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
This just strikes me as wrong.. Ebay, the 90's born purveyor of chipped Farber and Beanie Babies, is attempting to purchase Sotheby's, a company with letters of incorporation older than most American countries??? That would be like Sam Adams trying to buy out the Guinness name, or Bezos buying up BArnes and Noble,, This 'dot-com' game of market cap and break-even earnings has got to be nipped in the bud before too many of the 'respected' brands are bought on inflated stock and dragged through the mud by the same trash exec's that thought ad banners would be a viable income source.
.sig: Now legally binding!
Sorry, but first of all the market hasn't been too impressed buy the fact that these companies make huge losses.. An improvement might just be the signal they were hoping for to buy even more. Remember the markets don't react to normal valuations. Look for instance at Textron. High profits, but the stock went down. It is about what is hot and what not and what stays hot.
The diversification would be a good argument if we were talking about very different markets. A bit like GE works. Here you can see that the traditional company (thanks for the frase) is the one that is used as a parachute. I think we will see that alot more. You are right about the less risk, but it is for the reason of the traditional companies revenues and solid base. The stock will also be consolidated into one stock and not two separate ones. So it is not like holding different stocks. It will be one company. And treated as such. If one stock nosedives, it is the only stock they have
Use Adsense for Charity
Hmmm, Ebay may buy Sotheby's for $1.6 Billion... I'm guessing that they won't send the check, that's my experience with EBay. =)
Please. "E-commerce" was a buzzword designed by mega corporations like IBM to attract the souless managers who run this god-forsaken country's companies. What does it mean? In a word: nothing.
-commerce age conquering the old commerce age
There is nothing left to conquer. The "old age" has been dead in the water ever since Reagan was defeated. Since then, it's been a slipperly slide downhill, down which we are being lead by "new-age" business "gurus" who spout their "e-pontifications" and other e-bullshit to whoever is most willing to send them large checks. There is no strategy to plan: you set up a web site, often with a company such as AOL, collect credit card numbers, and if you have the time, send the products to the wrong address. Simple, really.
Putting your company behind 16bit color graphics and fancy domain name means NOTHING if it still run by a few old men in suits. The true power of this "information revolution" is not for the consumer, but for the worker. Why do you need a manager if you can easily communicate with other workers and coordinate your tasks. Aren't you the one writing the code? Then who's a more competent judge of your progress, you and your peers, or some 50 year old MBA in dacron socks? I think the answer is obvious.
The way to "e-business" is not through new methods of selling, but rather through new methods of workplace democratization, where the workers are given control. That, truly, is the only way to thrive in the modern world.
If this is case over the long term, then shareholder capitalism is pointless. The only reason for having publically-traded shares is that "owner power" forces companies to behave profitably in a much more immediate way than mere "consumer power". If you believe that long-term share price is unrelated to profitability then we might as well abolish shareholder's rights and return to consumer-driven capitalism.
I'm not saying that this is absurd, just that it is the consequence of what you claim.
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
Just how many american countries are there anyway?
Yeah, it's lame. This is funny, but the moderators never seem to get it right.
Amazing to see how far the tech world has come to be in a position to take over everything. Perhaps it also shows how overvalued the tech stocks are. If Ebay does get sotherby's it be kind of cool, if they could take the snooty auctions and bring it to more of a down to earth audience (like us)....
-- Moondog
--
The shareholder is always right.
Why don't you get yourself one of these?
I don't think your comment was off-topic at all. I think this is the very core of this topic. However, I'm worried that the trend may be against you when you say that investment in these high tech companies cannot be considered anything more than speculation. The AOL/Time Warner merger and this purchase (if it happens) may prove that pyramid schemes don't always collapse after all.
I remember a few years ago when many analysts were saying the stock market was a bubble that had grown to its limit and couldn't take much more, but then along came Internet stocks. Many people laughed at these ridiculously unprofitable Internet companies (yeah, some of them may post meager profits, but their P/E ratios certainly don't warrant their absurd valuations), and believed it was another small bubble that couldn't last.
But Internet stocks continue to grow and their valuations keep going up. Some people have cashed out and retired, but it hasn't slowed the prices any. These aren't bubbles, they are more like pyramids. These companies' true values are based upon their perceived value as investors continued to flock to them.
But look out! Now they're buying real companies with real assets and worth real money! Sure they may have once been floating on investors' overpriced valuation, now they're buying well-established companies as foundations.
Ack. Despite the fact that I work in this industry, I must be too old-fashioned to appreciate this new economy. I have no special regard for an institution like Sotheby's, but if eBay manages to purchase it, I'll be sick.
You can't study the darkness by flooding it with light. --Edward Abbey
Uh? There are countries in central America? I thought is was just divided into the different drug cartels.
ZDNET story about it here .
Welcome, MyAmazonNickName. You're pre-registered on sothebys.amazon.com. Please accept our Conditions of Sale and you'll be ready to bid. (If you're not MyAmazonNickName, click here.)
[
Or maybe Emmett was just making a joke, based on the fact that sort of thing always happens on eBay.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Quine "quine?
Well I guess you could control an Aibo with perl scripts and have it "fetch" Sotheby's :)
:)
Or build something with Lego Mindstorms and again control it with perl... and a palm..
I don't actually exist.
When was the last time you saw a beanie baby on Sotheby's auction block?
pronoblem
In order to have commerce work for us through agents, it is a given that prices must be flexible. Be it through barter, auctions, or bulk buying, people need to be able to capitalize on time and opportunity to minimize the price spent on goods.
For the consumer, this could be revolutionary. What would life be like if you could finagle any type of special deal or leverage that wholesalers/dealers/distributors use to get discounts? What if your bot stood on equal ground in bids against institutions?
Static pricing has got maybe ten years left in it. Disagree if you want, but to me /. is a Luddite board anyway - an overwhelming number of you just days ago were singing the praises of newspapers.
That can't be replaced. A big ticket item that you are dying to have for your "collection", picture a Stradavarius, the dignity of the whole affair. That can't be emulated in an online experience. The type of people purchasing at these auctions are the rich elite who would have qualms at buying online just because it lacked some of the status involved in winning a live auction purchase.
E-bay is too trailerpark.
"Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
It seems reasonable that Sothebeys would want to have some sort of internet connection, especially noting the success of eWolfs. Wolfs the premier auction house in Cleveland. A few months ago, they started holding auctions on the web. Items were available for viewing before the auction at their auction house, but virtually all of the bids were done over the internet. As a result, the proceeds from the auction were about double of what was expected. People who did not have the time to spend the entire day at the auction house to bid on an item or two were able to bid.
This has been, as I understand it, rather big news in the professional auction community. Based on this, it is understandable that other auction houses would want to do internet auctions. It makes sense to team up with ebay, rather than trying to reinvent the technology ebay had already developed.
I can't wait to hear about the kid who grabs his mom's credit card and spends $50 million on a painting because "dude, that chick is like totally naked!" =^)
yeah, well fuck you! you couldn't boil my dick if you caught it with your toungue!
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Member, UCTAM
(Score: -1, Flamebait), please.
you haven't gotten a fucking life yet, and they call you a troll?
my dear old grandma could troll better than you, retard!
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Member, UCTAM
(Score: -1, Flamebait), please.
online auctions? Or didn't they file one that yet?
oh my GOD that is the funniest thing i have read in a long time! took me about 10 minutes before i could click the "reply" link.. oh man.. /me has tears in his eyes... but seriously. as a person who runs win2k (and very pround of it) i get sick of people bashing products just because its microsoft's .. if they've taken the time to actually try it, they usually like it.. i've seen more than 1 convert.. but i'm not gonna get into this linux vs. ms discussion (this is slashdot, afterall.. i'd probably be booted:) so i use my normal linux-geek attitude: something doesnt go your way, blame it on microsoft. we all know microsoft was responsible for the stock market crash in the 1920's.. and the cold war.. and i dont think we can deny microsoft's liability in IT-IPO stock fever..
when you're this sexy, do you really need a witty signature?
ebay, please help. I wanted to bid, followed the link, and was told that item 116072115 was no longer in the database. But I was not looking for 116072115, but 5789731987123 - please tell me where I can find it.
Sounds like fun. Amazon couldn't complain, and if ebay did it right (i.e. made their intentions clear to the open sourcers without giving the courts reason to hold ebay in contempt of court), it could be really fun on slashdot. Do any slashdotters with a good amount legal knowledge want to offer to fight the lawsuit for ebay, without charge? Maybe Rob will reimburse you with revenue from ad displays
--
The shareholder is always right.
Wired has an article too.
Pablo Nevares, "the freshmaker".
Pablo Nevares, "the freshmaker".
I guess we will all agree that the value of ebay (and most of the other 'e-startups') is mostly theoretical.
It is interesting that they are now beginning to transfer their imaginary value (based on the possibility that they might be very profitable in the future) into real value (based on current profits and property).
sothebys.com offers a guarantee on all transactions, but rarely offers any detail at all concerning the history and provenance of the ieces for sale. this may be okay for $5000 items where sotheby's could even get the insurance underwritten. but many of the finest pieces in the world are sold not to private collectors, but between dealers, have complex provenances, may have been the subject of involved legal dispute, and so on and so on. plus, since thesetransactions on web sites are usually backed by credit cards, who the fsk is going tostump VISA or whoever's 2-3% commission on a multi million $ deal. Christies has a dealers card issued to those who are creditworthy, and generally recognised to bid. actually, more often than not these houses sell to people they KNOW wont pay and stiff the vendor. In a mo' I'll post some nice Lost Suit links for sotheby's. If there being bought by ebay its because they are as screwed a business model as ebay. bye for now.
This sort of thing is quite common and it highlights how naive Ebay must be to consider such a bid - there is so much undefined risk in the business of an auction house, only a combination of historical, legal and art experts could manage to assess.
However, with such a concentration of the employment of these in the main auction houses, the public is at a disadvantage to discover what is really going on. *all great fortunes are founded on a crime* taken note of by many in this business, I am sure. Here's the link :
http://iecl.iuscomp.org/gl a/judgments/foreign/gotha1.htm
Take a look seriously at the moderation of the early comments on this news thread. (based on the time fo my posting, I hasten to add) just how many are atributable to posters who have added content? I mean anyone going to write a context engine to switch off positive moderation for off topic posts and - maybe for really interesting ones - post them into a new thread "serious offtopic for 2/28/00" no but really im only thinking that this is silly. ***fsuck my karma. Think about content *****
dang - I mean non trivial content which is on topic at least enough to widen someone's horizon a little who is actually reading a thread for news relevant about the story - which is the point of /. anyway? not mean to bait at all.
Christie's and Sotheby's are in a demonstrably non-internet market. While eBay et al are perfect vehicles for people selling second hand items that they'd previously have used the small ads for, who is going to sell - or buy - a multi-million pound item through a website?
Objets d'art need personal validation so while online auctions (or the faux "auctions" of many of the sites which merely sell under the pretence of an auction) are ideal for some, the traditional auction room scene of a few dozen high rollers bidding away isn't going to disappear any time soon.
EBay know this. So they're trying to buy the opposition. Standard tactics. The question is though, will Sotheby's - and their imminent lawsuits over the anti-trust cases - going to be worth buying? Or is eBay's struggle for real-world respectability going to cost them dear?
--
"I do not speak for my employers, though they are controlled from my Teddy's huge pulsating brain."
--
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fat lenny's gonna lick your brain today.
[In response to tax refunds...]So? Are you opposed to people getting money back? If I were you, I'd be happy. Keep in mind, of course, that I pay taxes, but I'm not so sure about you.
Don't sell yourself so short. You've been sold a line of BS that sounds like this, "Oops, we don't know how it could have happened, but we seem to have too much money. Gosh darn it, we'll be heroes and hand it out to all of you." What an enormous load of crap. We've heard this line in MN for the last two years now, and I'm sick of it. The simple fact is this. Our taxes are too damn high! The tax rates need to be cut across the board, and now.
One of the biggest lies of all (at least with the way they do these tax refunds in MN) is that they don't consider it to be an income tax overpayment. Nope, even people who paid no income tax at all are being considered for a credit this time around. It's simply another wealth redistribution, and our wonderful governor is right at the heart of it.
Apparently, eBay has no plan of aquiring Sotheby's. To quote CEO Meg Whitman today "We're not buying them. There's absolutely nothing to these rumors." The yahoo news article where I'm getting this info went on to say that the rumor originated from a British newspaper, The Independent, based on the evidence of the resigning Sotherby executives.
This article from Wired states the contrary...
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http://www.aikiweb.com - AikiWeb Aikido Information
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online auctioneer eBay Inc. denied on Monday that it was preparing a takeover bid for troubled auction house Sotheby's Holdings Inc., which is the target of multinational price-fixing probe. ``We're not buying them. There's absolutely nothing to these rumors,'' eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said after speaking to Chief Executive Meg Whitman. click here for more
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,34612,00 .html
has the full story.
Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human.