Following yesterday’s news that Artsy and Artnet had been brought under the leadership, the latter online art marketplace has laid off dozens of employees.
Sources told ARTnews that the layoffs particularly impacted Artnet’s editorial arm, Artnet News, one of the most widely read art publications in the US and Europe. Andrew Russeth, who previously served as executive editor of ARTnews, will reportedly now serve as the interim editor of Artnet News.
Also impacted, according to those sources, was the Berlin team that helps facilitate Artnet’s efforts to sell art online.
In addition to publishing news articles and vending art listed by gallery partners, Artnet runs a database that allows users to track the results of sales held at major auction houses across the globe. Available at a premium fee, that database is frequently used by industry insiders and market experts.
A spokesperson for Artnet and Artsy confirmed there were layoffs at both companies, but declined to provide specifics on how many workers were let go and in which departments.
“As part of bringing Artsy and Artnet together as one company, we made organizational changes to build one go-forward team, including the elimination of some roles both at Artsy and Artnet,” the companies wrote in a joint statement to ARTnews. “These were difficult decisions and were not made lightly. Artnet’s German entity is being wound down as a separate business decision. We’re providing all affected employees with termination agreements that include severance and support. We communicated directly with affected employees and are committed to treating everyone with respect and supporting them through the transition. We’re very grateful for the contributions of those impacted.”
Artnet has experienced a prolonged period of financial difficulty, with its CEO abruptly resigning in September of last year ahead of a general meeting. In the months beforehand, Beowolff Capital, a British investment firm run by Andrew Evan Wolff, acquired a controlling stake in Artnet. “The digital art market is ripe for accelerated innovation,” he said at the time. Back in May of last year, Artnet was valued at 65 million euros.
Yesterday, Jeffrey Yin, the CEO of Artsy, was appointed the leader of Artnet as well. “Artnet was founded to bring transparency to the art world, and Artsy to make discovering and buying art more accessible,” Yin said in aa statement, saying that the two companies now had “the chance to do something unprecedented—bring together every constituency of the art world, from galleries and auction houses to collectors and institutions, on a connected platform for the first time.”
The announcement noted that “nothing is changing for partners or users,” though it contained little information on how the staffs of both Artnet and Artsy would be impacted. The two companies touted their reach in that release, claiming to draw 7 million monthly visitors in more than 190 million countries.
