15 Things You Didn’t Know About De Beers

this is company Saturdays every Saturday we present you with another company today we're looking at 15 things you didn't know about De Beers welcome to a luxe calm the place where future billionaires come to get inspired hello and welcome back Alexis today we're examining the diamond giant De Beers from its humble beginnings in 1888 in South Africa - its world domination of the diamond mining industry as part of the powerful anglo-american corporation the De Beers group has shown both longevity and control over one of the world's most valuable industries without the influence of the De Beers group diamond trade as we know it may never have even existed the company's determination to find and mine the glittering gems has led to the discovery of diamond deposits which might otherwise may never have been discovered if you are new here welcome be sure to subscribe and follow us on instagram at a luxe so let's delve into the exciting yet often controversial world of diamond mining with a look at 15 things you didn't know about De Beers number one it all began with the discovery of diamonds in a far-off African colony the 1871 discovery of a large diamond on a farm in the Orange Free State in South Africa sparked the beginning of the De Beers group the farm was owned by two Dutch settlers whose surname was de beer the British colonial authorities pressured the brothers into selling their farm the farm became the site of the big hole of Kimberley which yielded large volumes of diamonds Cecil John Rhodes founded De Beers in 1888 when he merged with companies owned by Barney Bernardo with the financial backing of the wealthy Rothschild family number two De Beers cannot be credited with the discovery of the largest-ever rough diamond the De Beers group negotiated a deal with the London diamond syndicate to sell its diamonds to them however it didn't have full control over the market just yet the owner of the premier mine in which the largest-ever rough diamond was found refused to join the De Beers group an independent dealer had prevented De Beers from laying its hands on the Cullinan diamond his name was Ernest Oppenheimer nevertheless De Beers continued to buy mines to gain a stranglehold on the industry by 1902 over 90 percent of the world's diamonds came from the mines DeBeers controlled number three Ernest Oppenheimer launched his own corporation to compete with De Beers Ernest Oppenheimer had come to South Africa from Germany as a representative for a london-based brokerage he soon launched his own mining company the anglo-american corporation backed with financed from American millionaire JP Morgan he bought shares in De Beers which earned him the chairmanship of the board in 1929 by 1955 Ernest Oppenheimer had overseen the combination of Anglo American and De Beers diamond mining operations this huge conglomerate would rule the diamond mining industry number four Harry Oppenheimer took the lead after his father died Ernest Oppenheimer's death in 1955 brought his heir apparent to the throne Harry Oppenheimer took over a leadership of De Beers and set about expanding its operations into countries like Canada Australia Zambia and Tanzania Oppenheimer continued to expand with the operations and influence of De Beers the organization created a monopoly with little or no competition not only did it control the sale of its own diamonds it sold the die of independent producers through a single-channel sales process number five the billion dollar price tag that saw the Oppenheimer's leave De Beers Harry Oppenheimer stood down as the chairman of De Beers back in 1982 the family maintained its 40% stake in the company then in 2011 Harry Oppenheimer's son Nicky sold the family stake in De Beers to Anglo American the Oppenheimer's were paid 5.1 billion dollars for their share of De Beers after an 80 year involvement the Oppenheimer's were out of the diamond business however through its continued collaborations throughout the world De Beers remains an industry giant with its 2017 revenue standing at 5.8 billion dollars number six De Beers has lost its monopoly over the diamond market the year 2000 saw two beers having to change the way it was doing business there was a flood of conflict diamonds into the market since De Beers was selling diamonds from other producers the potential for scandal was huge the company could not afford to associate itself with blood diamonds then by 2013 the company's market share of rough diamonds had plummeted from 90% to 33% the company now only sells diamonds from its own mines and guarantees they are conflict-free number 7 De Beers has had to deal with price fixing allegations having held a monopolistic control over the market for many years De Beers was influential in the setting of Diamond prices however they have been found to have overstepped the legal mark in certain instances the company paid a 10 million dollar fine in the United States over allegations it colluded with General Electric to tamper with and fix the price of industrial diamonds a settlement of 295 million dollars was paid out in 2013 in relation to the price-fixing despite the company pleading its innocence number eight De Beers has been tarnished by being associated with human rights violations the De Beers group came under heavy criticism for continuing to operate from South Africa and trade with its government during the apartheid years although the Oppenheimer family stated their opposition to the discriminatory laws the company continued to make profits based on that the company has also been accused of attempting to force the relocation of the sawn people from an area in Botswana that they wanted to mine the story whipped up international condemnation and De Beers sold its shares in the mine in 2007 number nine De Beers is actively supporting entrepreneurs in developing countries as part of its mission to give back to the countries that have brought it so much wealth De Beers engages in corporate and social responsibility programs across the world in 2017 the company announced a partnership with the Stanford Graduate School of Business young entrepreneurs in South Africa Namibia and Botswana will be able to acquire the skills they need to turn their business ambitions into a reality a three million dollar collaboration over three years is planned number 10 diamonds are forever natural diamonds are formed over millions of years which is why they're so rare and expensive they have long been a symbol of wealth and love the concept of the diamond engagement ring was based around the fact that diamonds are precious and rare it's become a common way for a man to express how he feels about that special lady he wants to marry the phrase a diamond is forever was coined by a young copywriter named Francis greedy in 1947 diamonds are the hardest substance on earth which is why industrial diamonds are used on mining drills today Luxor's we actually covered a lot of these facts in Tail in our 15 things you didn't know about diamonds video which you can check out by clicking in the top right corner number 11 De Beers has relocated its headquarters as a result of their value diamonds are the subject of theft and robbery for many years the De Beers headquarters were on Charterhouse Street in London the street is in the Hatton Garden diamond district of the city the vault under the building consisted of four levels and was at one time home to about 80 or 90 percent of the world's diamonds but there seems to be no coincidence that De Beers relocated to the anglo-american headquarters from their original building that the notorious Hatton Garden safe-deposit company vault robbery happened in 2015 number 12 De Beers is using new innovative diamond mining techniques in Namibia in June 2017 De Beers together with its local partner Deb marine took diamond mining to a new level debbye marine operates in namibia and is responsible for offshore diamond mining together De Beers and Deb marine launched the SS new Joma this vessel is a state-of-the-art exploration vessel the new Joma explores the oceans and samples diamonds there are diamond deposits off the coast of Namibia that have yet to be fully exploited number 13 despite no longer being the leader De Beers maintains a strong presence in the diamond industry De Beers continues to maintain a substantial piece of the pie in terms of rough diamond production with about 25 percent its greatest competitor Russia's Alrosa is a relative newcomer to the market with a 28 percent share the rich history of the company and the fact that it has operated for over 100 years makes it legendary surviving many periods of economic uncertainty the company has continued to operate at a profit through its successful marketing and collaborations diamonds remain one of the most coveted possessions in the world number 14 De Beers is venturing into the synthetic diamond sector may 2018 saw De Beers launch it's a light Fox brand this range of diamonds is not mined instead the diamonds are synthetically produced these synthetic diamonds are grown in a laboratory instead of mined from the earth the technique will satisfy the markets demand for diamonds despite a dwindling supply of naturally occurring gems synthetic diamonds are significantly less expensive than ninth diamonds and are guaranteed conflict-free number fifteen De Beers made diamonds accessible to the world who would have thought that the discovery of a diamond on a dusty farm in South Africa could produce the giant that is De Beers through its activities DeBeers brought diamonds to the world its stellar reputation for producing quality diamonds has sustained the business despite the expense the demand for diamonds across the globe continues to rise and if not for De Beers what would the diamond market look like today have we surprised you with some interesting facts about De Beers how many diamonds do you personally own let us know in the comments and of course for sticking with us and watching all the way to the end here is your bonus as a thank you number 16 married women are more likely to buy diamonds for themselves than single women the De Beers 2017 diamond insight report revealed that married women buy more diamonds than their single counterparts they favor rings followed by earrings the average diamond purchase costs between thirteen hundred and fourteen hundred dollars a lot of these purchases are made on impulse jewelry stores capitalize on this with attractive displays regular discounts and helpful staff all of which act as enablers for customers to buy products on that impulse thank you for spending some time with us a Luxor's make sure to LIKE and subscribe so you never miss another video we also hand-picked these videos which we recommend you watch next thank you for being an a lexer and we'll see you back tomorrow

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Id: 0nwlh6Hzj7k

Length: 13min 38sec (818 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 23 2019