Segment Reporting Sotheby's is a global art business, offering our clients opportunities to connect with and transact in the world's most extraordinary objects. Auctioneers since 1744, today we offer a variety of innovative art-related services, including the brokerage of private art sales, private jewelry sales through Sotheby's Diamonds, exclusive private selling exhibitions at our S|2 galleries, art-related financing, and art advisory services, as well as retail wine locations in New York and Hong Kong. Our operations are organized under two segmentsthe Agency segment and the Finance segment, which does business as and is referred to in this report as Sotheby's Financial Services (or "SFS"). Through our Agency segment, we accept property on consignment, stimulate buyer interest through professional marketing techniques, and match sellers (also known as consignors) to buyers through the auction or private sale process. Prior to offering a work of art for sale, we perform due diligence activities to authenticate and determine the ownership history of the property being sold. To a much lesser extent, Agency segment activities also include the sale of artworks that are principally acquired as a consequence of the auction process, as well as the activities of RM Sotheby's, an equity investee that operates as an auction house for investment-quality automobiles (see Note 5 ). The Agency segment is an aggregation of the auction, private sale, and other related activities conducted by our operating segments in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, which have similar economic characteristics and are similar in their services, customers, and the manner in which their services are provided. SFS is an art financing company that is uniquely positioned as a niche lender with the ability to tailor attractive financing packages for clients who wish to obtain immediate access to liquidity from their art assets. SFS deploys a unique combination of art expertise, skill in international law and finance, and access to capital to provide