Sotheby’s New York City Headquarters

Sotheby‘s hopes to profit from income inequality to boost its revenues and share value, so reports The Street’s ValueWalk.

The article references the auction house’s online profile, which highlights its position as a public company that redistributes to stockholders the surplus capital generated by the booming sales of fine art at auctions in recent years.  The value of Sotheby’s stock, however, has dipped in 2014, from a high of $53.5 to $37.6 per share, reflecting a decline of 30 percent. Despite, or perhaps due to, the recent slip in its stock price, the company, according to the report, is now a viable investment opportunity.

ValueWalk cites the persistent economic inequity in the country that has only gotten more extreme  in recent years. The much-discussed hypothesis that fine art is the most attractive investment for the super-rich, combined with the current strength of the art market, is the basis for the investment recommendation. For those who already possess extensive real estate holdings and material goods, like private jets, luxury cars and yachts, fine-art objects are the most attractive form of stable, long-term investment, whose portability and relative permanence are a given. In recent years, economic inequity has been rife; the report reiterates that the net worth of America’s wealthiest individuals has skyrocketed in recent years. According to Forbes magazine, America’s 400 wealthiest individuals now possess a combined net worth estimated at approximately $2.3 trillion.