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The company also separated the roles of chairman
and CEO, naming lead independent director Domenico De Sole
chairman, it said on Monday.
Sotheby's said in November that Ruprecht would step down once a
successor was found. The announcement followed months of demands
for big changes at the company from activist investors including
Daniel Loeb.
Loeb, whose hedge fund Third Point LLC was Sotheby's largest
shareholder as of May 2014, joined the centuries-old auction
house's board last year.
Smith will take over at Sotheby's from March 31, about a year
after he joined Madison Square, the owner of New York Knicks and
New York Rangers.
Activist investor Marcato Capital Management LP, Sotheby's
second-largest shareholder, said in February that the company
should buy back $500 million of shares immediately and replace
its Chief Financial Officer Patrick McClymont.
Sotheby's said earlier last month that there would be no return
of capital until it found a new CEO.
Activist investors have called for other major changes at
Sotheby's, including the sale of its headquarters on the Upper
East Side of Manhattan.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti
Pandey)
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