LiveAuctioneers.com CEO Featured on NPR
Broadcast Crowns a Banner Year for Industry-Leading Company
Jan. 9, 2008
NEW YORK – After completing an extremely successful year at LiveAuctioneers.com, the premier destination for online participation in top-quality auctions worldwide, CEO Julian Ellison recently made a guest appearance on NPR's "On the Money!" The broadcast, which aired the week of Dec. 26, 2007, addressed the current state of the auction industry and changes resulting from new technology like online bidding. Ellison provided a first-hand account of how live online bidding, through platforms like LiveAuctioneers.com, has bolstered the health of the industry. To hear the complete broadcast, click here: NPR Radio Interview
During the interview, Ellison also related some of LiveAuctioneers.com's successes and innovations of 2007. In late August, the company launched the industry's most sophisticated streaming Internet audio and video technology for live online auctions. For the first time, this allowed eBay's 275 million worldwide users to view and hear live auctions through their computers. Numerous auction houses have implemented the service since it debuted, giving their bidders an online-auction experience unlike any other.
In 2007, LiveAuctioneers.com also celebrated its fifth anniversary – a significant achievement for any dot-com business – which was marked by yet another impressive milestone. Ellison confirmed that sales revenues for LiveAuctioneers.com had exceeded $100 million in 2007, an extraordinary feat for a company that began with just $1,800 in start-up capital.
In addition, the company reported that auction catalogs appearing on its Web site in electronic form attracted more than 50 million unique visitors during the 12-month period. With an online sell-through rate averaging higher than 26 percent, LiveAuctioneers.com's auction house clients also shattered record after record last year, proving that online bidding has significantly contributed to the sector's success. Prices paid in 2007 for art, antiques and vintage memorabilia, as well as business and industrial equipment, and real estate purchased through LiveAuctioneers.com were robust, with marked increases across the board.
Highlights from 2007 included:
$207,000 – Oil-on-canvas painting by Joseph Henry Sharp
$104,125 – George Nakashima walnut Conoid dining table
$120,000 – Steve McQueen 1967 Triumph Bonneville Motorcycle
$110,250 – Graphite and colored pencil on paper drawing by Mel Ramos
$132,000 – Patinated bronze by Fernando Botero
While it might seem impossible that LiveAuctioneers could top such a stellar year, Ellison promises that there is much more excitement to come in 2008, both for auction houses and bidders. Most notably, the company will launch the world's first Web-based inventory-management system for auctions and auction houses. “There’s a bright future ahead for us and for the auction industry,” Ellison said. “We’ve been successful because we constantly anticipate what the future holds in store for the auction and arts sector. LiveAuctioneers.com is poised to help auction houses evolve for the next generation.”
