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Following a year in which the company saw profits drop 87 percent, Ruprecht’s salary was cut by $100,000, meaning he is scheduled to earn $600,000 for 2009. The house also did not pay him a cash bonus for 2008. In 2007, he received a bonus of $2.6 million.

The salary reduction “was initiated by Mr. Ruprecht as part of the company’s ongoing cost reduction efforts,” according to the auction house’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Sotheby’s has yet to disclose Ruprecht’s total compensation for 2008; in 2007, he earned $10.3 million.

Other top executives at Sotheby’s will see their base salaries reduced by 10 percent in 2009.