artnet in light and shadow
artnet AG, the world's leading portal for the art market, experienced further growth in the first quarter of 2008. Despite the U.S. dollar´s significant drop, an increase in turnover of at least 13% was achieved based on the Euro. The most important contribution to this growth was a 37% increase in advertising revenue. artnet AG database growth was below average. The company´s network of galleries, in which more than 2,000 dealers present themselves on the artnet website, remains its main source of income. Striking is that the American company´s highest turnover growth came mainly from Europe, while declining in U.S. It seems that the recessionary trends and financial market turbulence have also affected artnet AG´s business. Due to high investment in the online auction business, the quarterly profit decreased considerably from 651 T€ to 339 T€. Due to this, the prospects for the online auction business were regarded rather sceptically by the market, a view evidenced over
