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Christie’s named a new chief executive officer as part of a wider shakeup in the management of the billionaire Pinault family’s art-related investments.
Bonnie Brennan, who’s been at the auction house for the past 13 years, is set to become CEO of Christie’s on Feb. 1, replacing Guillaume Cerutti, it said Wednesday.
After running Christie’s for the past eight years, Cerutti will assume oversight of the artistic and cultural activities of Artemis, the Pinault family’s holding company. The Pinaults’ wealth largely comes from their controlling stake in Kering SA, the owner of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other luxury brands. Cerutti will continue as chairman of Christie’s.
The art market has become “challenging,” Cerutti said in December, as Christie’s projected global sales from auctions and private deals to drop 6 percent in 2024, to $5.7 billion.
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Brennan was encouraged in the second half of last year when Christie’s saw increased stability in the art market, and told reporters she’s “quite bullish” on 2025. Her priority will be to focus on new audiences, demographics and geographies, she said.
The management changes mean Francois Pinault, the 88-year-old founder of Kering, will now become honorary president of the Pinault collection, Cerutti told reporters.
Pinault and his son Francois-Henri, 62, on Wednesday described Christie’s — purchased in 1998 — as a “key asset” for Artemis. Last year, Francois-Henri’s son, Francois Louis Nicolas, became a board member at Christie’s, a sign that the Pinault family is elevating the third generation.
Artemis owns other art assets, notably the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, which hosts the Pinault collection. The billionaire family also renovated the Bourse de Commerce in Paris to showcase its art in the French capital, a venue that opened to the public in 2021.
Kering has been struggling amid a wider demand downturn for high-end goods. The group’s Paris-listed shares lost 40 percent of their value last year, the most since 2008 when the global financial crisis hit. That means the fortune of the Pinault family has also tumbled and now stands at about $20.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Christie’s competes in the art market against Sotheby’s, which is owned by telecom entrepreneur Patrick Drahi and the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, ADQ.
By Angelina Rascouet
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