Company Overview
artnet is the place to buy, sell and research fine art, decorative art and design online. Our online Gallery Network is the largest of its kind, with more than 2,200 galleries in over 250 cities and more than 160,000 works by over 38,000 artists from around the globe. The Network serves dealers and art buyers alike by providing a survey of the market and its pricing trends, as well as the means to communicate instantly, inexpensively and globally. Other key services include artnet Magazine– the insider’s guide to the art market, with daily news, reviews and features by renowned writers in the art community – and the Price Database. artnet’s Price Database is the most comprehensive color illustrated archive of fine art and design auction results worldwide. Representing auction results from over 500 international auction houses since 1985, the Price Database covers more than 3.9 million artworks by over 186,000 artists, ranging from Old Masters to Contemporary.
Company Background
artnet AG was incorporated under the laws of Germany in 1998. In 1999 Management took the company public on the Neuer Markt of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 2002, artnet.com AG changed its name to artnet AG. Its principal holding is its wholly owned subsidiary, artnet Worldwide Corp., a New York corporation that was founded in 1989. On October 4, 2002, artnet AG left the Neuer Markt and is now listed on the Geregelter Market at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
artnet AG and artnet Worldwide Corp. (collectively, “the Company”) operate under the trade name artnet. artnet provides services to fine-art professionals that improve the economics of their businesses. The art business is international but is conducted locally by tens of thousands of geographically dispersed dealers, galleries, auction houses, print publishers, museums and collectors in a relatively inefficient marketplace. Observing the inefficiencies in the art business, artnet developed its first product, the Price Database, to bring price transparency to the art market. Today the Price Database has a broad base of customers dominated by major auction houses, art dealers, museums and insurance companies. In 1995 the company transitioned the Price Database to the Internet and introduced a second product, the online Gallery Network, building and hosting websites for art dealers and galleries on its platform. The online Gallery Network was supplemented by a new online art trade magazine to draw attention to the site. Today, artnet is a critical tool, providing its member dealers with global market access, significant incremental revenue opportunities and cost-effective marketing solutions during a volatile economic period.