Page:2020-07-29 PSI Staff Report - The Art Industry and U.S. Policies that Undermine Sanctions.pdf/47

 The company is now owned by French billionaire François Pinault through his holding company Groupe Artémis. In 2018, Christie's led the global art market, generating $7 billion in total sales, "the highest ever in the history of the auction house." In 2019, the company generated $5 billion in auction sales alone.

In recent years, Christie's started its own art storage business through its subsidiary Christie's Fine Art Storage Services with facilities in Singapore and Brooklyn. The company also recalibrated its business model to better accommodate Asian buyers' increased participation in the art market. In 2017, Christie's sales in Asia increased 39 percent, which ultimately represented 31 percent of the global market. In part due to these increases and the expansion of its online activities, Christie's closed its South Kensington branch in London and scaled back activities in Amsterdam.

Beyond its substantial presence in Asia, Christie's has a longstanding relationship with the Russian market that dates back to the 1770s. In 1778, for example, James Christie sold Sir Robert Walpole's art collection to Empress Catherine the Great, and this collection remains in the Hermitage to this day. The strength of this relationship has endured and in 2016, Christie's had a 62 percent share "of the global market for Russian works of art." The company also holds the record for "the highest price ever paid for a Russian painting at public auction—Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist Composition, which sold for $85,812,500 in 2018."