market folly

Mick McGuire's activist firm Marcato Capital Management has filed an amended 13D on its position on Sotheby's (BID).  Per the filing, Marcato now owns 4.9% of BID with 2.62 million shares.

This is a change from the 5.27 million shares they reported on their 13F filing at the end of the second quarter.

The filing notes that Marcato entered into a share repurchase agreement with Sotheby's where BID agreed to purchase 2.05 million shares of BID from Marcato at $36 per share on October 4th.

For more on this fund, we've highlighted other recent portfolio activity from Marcato.

Per Google Finance, Sotheby's is "a global art business company. The Company operates in two segments: Agency and Finance. The Agency segment earns commissions by matching buyers and sellers of authenticated fine art, decorative art, jewelry, wine and collectibles (collectively, art or works of art or artwork or property) through the auction or private sale process. Agency segment activities also include the sale of artworks that are principally acquired incidental to the auction process and the activities of RM Sotheby's. The Finance segment earns interest income through art-related financing activities by making loans that are secured by works of art. Its activities include Sotheby's retail wine operations, Acquavella Modern Art, an equity investee, and sales of the remaining inventory of Noortman Master Paintings, an art dealer that was owned and operated by Sotheby's are reported within all other segment."