38: Ritchie Brothers

ritchie bros. auctioneers has more than 110 locations worldwide.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is the world’s largest industrial auctioneer, selling more equipment to on-site and on-line bidders than any other company in the world. In June 2009 it generated US $35.93 million (AED132 million) in sales in Dubai, with an average 15% to 20% increase in turnover year-on-year.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sells through unreserved public auctions a broad range of used and unused equipment for the construction, transportation, agricultural, materials-handling, mining, forestry, petroleum and marine industries. The company maintains a website at rbauction.com and sponsors an equipment wiki at RitchieWiki.com.

It was established in 1958 in Canada, holding its first unreserved auction in 1958 and its first unreserved industrial auction in 1963. Headquartered in Vancouver, Ritchie Bros.
 

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Auctioneers has more than 110 locations worldwide, including 40 auction sites in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. It has more than 1100 full-time employees around the world.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is a public company. Its common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the trading symbol rba. Robert Murdoch is the current chairman of the board, while Peter Blake is the current CEO.

Every auction is unreserved, which means there are no minimum bids or reserve prices. Every item is sold to the highest bidder on auction day, regardless of price. Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers also forbids owners from bidding on their own items, thereby ensuring that bidders set the ultimate prices, and not the sellers.