Sotheby's
Taubman bought the ailing British auction house, Sotheby's, in 1983, acting as a white knight when the company was threatened by a hostile and unwanted takeover by Marshall Cogan and Stephen Swid of General Felt. Many in the snobby art world "scoffed," according to CBS News. He said: "We were just merchants ... shopping mall guys." But he turned around the floundering auction house by redesigning the New York headquarters with such additions as luxury boxes for clients' privacy as well as escalators. "I wanted to create an open feeling where all the goods were available to everyone," he said. He revived the fortunes of Sotheby's, which had been slumping in the eighties; he took the company public in 1988. His family divested controlling interest in Sotheby's by September 2005.
Read more about this topic: A. Alfred Taubman