Can two lame ducks produce a swan? Here to answer are Artnet and Artsy, which were officially merged last week. Artnet has been taken private and the two companies now belong to Beowolff Capital, a private equity firm founded by Andrew Wolff, a former Goldman Sachs trader. The chief executive of Artsy, Jeffrey Yin, will lead both companies.
The deal dates back a few months, but we have been waiting for the other shoe to drop—and now it has. “Restructuring” was inevitable and economies of scale sure to be implemented. There have been layoffs at both companies, including at least seven staff members of Artnet News, and Artnet’s Berlin office has been closed. The exact number of redundancies has not been communicated, but it has severely impacted the editorial arm of the group, with some excellent journalists shown the door.
Despite this, Wolff told Monopol magazine that he intends to “maintain our status as a leading voice in art market reporting”. Quite how he will do that, with such a diminished editorial team, remains to be seen.
The two companies have special features: Artnet offers a huge databank of secondary market prices, with its 18m auction results. Artsy has primary market intelligence through its gallery network. The idea is to combine these differing strengths to offer the user a seamless experience, from discovering art or an artist, learning about prices and exhibitions, and then buying a work of art, all using the same site.
Artnet reported a loss of just over $1m in its first quarter 2025 income statement, just before being taken private. It is not clear if Artsy ever turned a profit, despite over $130m being raised since its founding in 2009.
How to generate income?
The chief question is how will the new owner generate income? For the moment he is cutting costs, but then may have to decide which part of the business is the most promising—he says he will “develop additional data and information services” and offer “financial services to the art market, as well as continuing its media business.” In short, a sort of Bloomberg for the arts.
Before being sold, Artnet generated income from its marketplace, media and database, but this was faltering. By cutting editorial staff, Wolff will probably not be able to increase advertising revenue, since there will be less coverage to put it against. And as it is, luxury goods advertising has been slowing, reflecting a broader structural downturn in the market. “Luxury lethargy” saw 50 million consumers drop out of the market between 2024 and 2025.
Monetising the database is a promising avenue, but this has its problems—software can scrape prices off the internet, and artificial intelligence should make this easier, and for free. Additional data services could appeal to financial institutions, although how many will pay for Bloomberg-type terminal costs which are about $27,000 to $30,000 a year? Newcomers to the art market need to be reminded that the art market remains small, elitist—and not infinitely scalable.
Wolff has a five-point plan to turn the companies around, and believes a combination of all, plus the new services, will work. For the moment he is keeping both brands separate, but I would not be surprised if he merges the two into one in the foreseeable future, and it makes more sense. Perhaps this is not a swan song, but the start of something bigger and better.
