Case 4: Ritchie’s Auctioneers and the Ethics of Auctions

Ethics

Introduction Ken, Dave and John Ritchie began Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers began as a small family-run business in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Ritchie Bros.’ first unreserved auction was held in 1958, selling CA$2,000 of surplus inventory from their furniture store to pay a bank debt. As a result of their success at this first auction, the brothers began conducting regular auctions. In 1963 the Ritchie brothers conducted their first unreserved industrial auction, selling $600,000 worth of equipment (http://www.rbauction.com/web/rba/aboutus/history). Demand for the company’s unreserved auction services increased which led Ritchie Bros. to expand across North America. The company opened its first office outside Canada in 1969 in Washington State. The company’s first United States auction was held in 1970. Ritchie Bros.’ unreserved auctions were well received in the U.S. market. By 1985 the company had sold more than one billion dollars of equipment and in 1998 the company’s annual gross auction proceeds exceeded one billion dollars (http://www.rbauction.com/web/rba/aboutus/history). Ritchie Bros. began to expand internationally in the late 1980’s. The company conducted its first auctions in Europe in 1987. Auctions in Australia, Asia, Mexico, the Middle East and Africa would follow. Ritchie Bros. is now headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and has over 110 locations worldwide. The company was purchased by Ira Hopmeyer and Stephen Ranger in 1995 (Brooks & Dunn, 2012, p. 539). Ritchie Bros. went public in 1998, and is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the trading symbol RBA. Ritchie Bros.’ annual gross auction proceeds exceeded three billion dollars within a decade of going public (http://www.rbauction.com/web/rba/aboutus/history). In September,