Sotheby's Sold for $2.7 Billion to  French Media Titan Patrick Drahi

Telecom titan Patrick Drahi is buying Sotheby’s for $2.7 billion, taking it private after more than three decades as a public company, and placing the world’s two leading auction houses under the control of French billionaires.

Sotheby’s shares had taken a beating in the past year as the company battled expenses and margins even as masterpieces and contemporary works set auction records. Activist investor Dan Loeb, whose Third Point hedge fund is the second-largest shareholder, had waged a battle against the auction house after first reporting a stake in 2013.