MORE JOB CUTS AT SOTHEBY’S

Carol Vogel reports in the New York Times that Sotheby’s announced yesterday it was planning a 5 percent cut in its global workforce. The measure is in addition to a 15 percent cut announced at the end of 2008. Salaries will be reduced for top employees, too, and the company plans unpaid furloughs as well as a reduction in pension contributions for those working in the United States. Sotheby’s expects to save about $160 million this year. As part of this restructuring plan, it said it would save $15 million from staff cuts alone. A publicly traded company, Sotheby’s also announced on Tuesday that it would reduce its dividend to twenty cents a share from sixty cents. Sotheby’s officials said they had not laid off any art experts yet and probably wouldn’t until after the important New York auctions in May.