Sotheby%u2019s and Christie%u2019s account for about 90 percent of the internati

Question

Sotheby%u2019s and Christie%u2019s account for about 90 percent of the international art auction market. Auction houses charge commissions to the owners of paintings they auction. By the early 1990s, Sotheby%u2019s and Christie%u2019s were in fierce competition for the best Old Master, Impressionist, and modern paintings. They offered sellers guaranteed prices, reduced commissions, free shipping, insurance, and even donations to their favorite charities. Such aggressive tactics lowered the firms%u2019 profits. For example, as a result of a guarantee given to the owner of one painting, Sotheby%u2019s lost $9.5 million when the painting failed to sell at auction. In 1993, Sir Anthony Tenant, the British chairman of Christie%u2019s, and A. Alfred Taubman, the American chairman of Sotheby%u2019s, decided to collude by agreeing to: charge similar commissions, not hire each other%u2019s employees, and not speak badly of each other to clients. An employee Christie%u2019s had fired turned over records implicating the two auction house chairmen to the U.S. Justice Department in 1999. . The Justice Department indicted Taubman and Tenant and fined both firms. The firms also paid $256 million to settle private lawsuits filed by their clients.

Which antitrust laws did the chairmen of Sotheby%u2019s and Christie%u2019s violate when they agreed to collude?

Explanation / Answer

they voilated Bid rigging anti trust law."Bid-Rigging Is A Per Se Antitrust Violation Often Leading To Criminal Enforcement"

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