The New York Times’s Julia Werdigier reports that a string of disappointing auctions over the past four months has prompted Christie’s International to start a cost-reduction effort that will include job cuts. “We have begun to implement a companywide reorganization, which includes significant staff reductions, not renewing many consultants’ contracts, and the continuation of other cost-reduction initiatives, that will ensure we remain competitive and profitable in 2009,” Christie’s said in a statement on Monday, without saying how many positions might be cut or giving any further details. Christie’s reorganization is the first at the London-based auction house since 2001. Its rival, Sotheby’s, said in December that it planned to reduce costs by seven million dollars in 2009 by cutting jobs and salaries, citing an “uncertain and challenging macroeconomic environment.” According to Bloomberg’s Lindsay Pollock, Sotheby’s has been making cuts as well, firing approximately sixty staffers in the US since mid-December, including an auctioneer who was on the rise and an Impressionist and modern-art scholar who had been with the company for thirty-five years.