Business News: Auctionata Forced To Close After Failing To Find New Investors

March 01, 2017

In January, we told you that online auction house Auctionata had filed for insolvency after not paying salaries for weeks. The Berlin-based company began looking for new investors to keep itself afloat, but now, after another month or so of looking, has been forced to shutter due to lack of interest. The details are a bit messy, with some sub-companies making it out of the chaos alive, but the gist is that Auctionata is no more. One of the surprising things about this whole situation is that just last year Auctionata completed a merger/acquisition with New YorkCbased Paddle 8, and had previously taken on investment from the likes of Hearst Ventures and Groupe Arnault, to the tune of $130 million. Since insolvency was announced in January, Paddle 8 and Value My Stuff (another sub-company) have been successfully sold to investors in the United States and the United Kingdom, and they will continue doing business as usual. You can see all the details in the official press release. Things first started to fall apart in March 2016 when Auctionata was accused of trade violations related to employees bidding on the auction house's own items, throwing its IPO potential into question. Effective today, March 1, 2017, the majority of the 170-person staff has been terminated, including CEO Thomas Hesse, and liquidation proceedings will begin immediately.Story via ArtNet News.