Christie’s is about to try to sell an estimated $840 million of art this week. But it had a major wrench thrown into its plans last week when hackers took down its website.
“We apologise that our full website is currently offline,” a redirected version of the fine art auction house’s site was telling visitors as of Monday afternoon. “We are looking to resolve this as soon as possible and regret any inconvenience.”
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Three major auctions are supposed to be happening this week, according to artnet, including:
🎨 The collection of the late art collector Rosa de la Cruz, expected to bring in $30 million on May 14
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🎨 A grouping of 21st-century art, expected to bring in more than $100 million on May 14
🎨 A grouping of 20th-century art, expected to bring in $500 million on May 16
Christie’s said in December that its digital platform was a key growth driver and a “gateway to build and expand relationships with new and younger buyers.” It said 33% of new American bidders and buyers came to the company through its online platform.
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The New York Times first reported the outage on Friday, saying that Christie’s first noticed that things were awry on Thursday evening. The auction house referred to the hack as a “technology security issue.”
On Sunday, the paper reported that all but one auction — a collection of high-end watches — will go ahead as scheduled. For now, the primary bidding will be happening over the phone and in-person. A placeholder website being set up to accommodate online buyers who wished to view catalogs for the auctions, though they won’t be able to use it to submit bids.
