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De Beers

De Beers UK Limited
IndustryMining and trading of diamonds
Founded1888 (1888)
FounderCecil Rhodes
HeadquartersLondon, England, UK
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ProductsDiamonds
ServicesDiamond mining, marketing, grading and jewellery
RevenueIncreaseUS$6.08 billion (2018)[1]
Owners
Number of employees
c. 20,000
Websitewww.debeersgroup.com

The De Beers Group is a South African-[3] British corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond inscription and grading services, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial and coastal mining. It operates in 35 countries with mining taking place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Canada. It also has an artisanal mining business, Gemfair, which operates in Sierra Leone.

From its inception in 1888 until the start of the 21st century, De Beers controlled 80% to 85% of rough diamond distribution and was considered a monopoly.[4] As of 2000, the company's control of the world diamond supply decreased to 63%.[5]

The company was founded in 1888 by British businessman Cecil Rhodes, who was financed by the South African diamond magnate Alfred Beit and the London-based N M Rothschild & Sons bank.[6][7] In 1926, Ernest Oppenheimer, a German immigrant to Britain and later South Africa who had earlier founded mining company Anglo American with American financier J. P. Morgan,[8] was elected to the board of De Beers.[9] He built and consolidated the company's global monopoly over the diamond industry until his death in 1957. During this time, he was involved in a number of controversies, including price fixing and trust behaviour, and was accused of not releasing industrial diamonds for the U.S. war effort during World War II.[10][11]

In 2011, Anglo American took control of De Beers after buying the Oppenheimers' family stake of 40% for US$5.1 billion (£3.2 billion) and increasing its stake to 85%, ending the 80-year Oppenheimer control of the company.[12]

In May 2024, Anglo American announced its intention to spin off or sell De Beers.[13]

  1. ^ Anglo American: Year end financial report for the year ending 31 December 2018, February 2018, Retrieved: 15 April 2019.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ownership was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "De Beers S.A.". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Sep. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/De-Beers-SA. Accessed 28 August 2023.
  4. ^ Chang, So-Young; Heron, Amanda; Kwon, John; Maxwell, Geoff; Rocca, Lodovico; Tarajano, Orestes (Fall 2002). "The Global Diamond Industry" (PDF). Chazen Web Journal of International Business. The Trustees of Columbia University: 2. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  5. ^ Behrmann, Neil; Block, Robert (13 July 2000). "De Beers Said It Will Abandon Its Monopoly of Diamond Supply". wsj.com. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Exhibitions ‹ Rothschild Timeline :: The Rothschild Archive". www.rothschildarchive.org.
  7. ^ Epstein, Edward Jay (1982). The rise and fall of diamonds: the shattering of a brilliant illusion. Simon and Schuster.
  8. ^ "New Mining Target: Anglo American". Forbes. 21 August 2006. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  9. ^ Chilvers, Henry (1939). The Story of De Beers. Cassell. p. 227.
  10. ^ Janine P. Roberts (2003). Glitter & Greed. The Disinformation Company. ISBN 0-9713942-9-6. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  11. ^ Theodor Emanuel Gregory (1977). Ernest Oppenheimer and the Economic Development of Southern Africa. Arno Press. ISBN 9780405097904. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  12. ^ "Anglo American buys Oppenheimer family stake in De Beers for $5.1 billion". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  13. ^ "Bloomberg - Anglo Ditching De Beers Is Hard Blow for Troubled Diamond Market". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 14 May 2024.

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