The De Beers Group is a Johannesburg-based diamond mining and trading corporation. In the 1980s, the firm had a near de facto monopoly on the world's diamond trade (80% share). However, that share has been reduced to 60%^[1] due to discoveries outside of De Beers' control (such as in Russia and Canada). Image File history File links DeBeers_Logo. ... , City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... // A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... A corporation is a legal person which, while being composed of natural persons, exists completely separately from them. ... A de facto monopoly is a monopoly that was not created by government. ... // A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ...

In the past, De Beers was able to create an artificial scarcity of diamonds through its wholly-owned Central Selling Organization (CSO), thus keeping prices high. The modern tradition of diamonds as a part of engagement in many cultures has been largely created by De Beers through an amazingly effective advertising campaign started in 1938. The "A Diamond is Forever" campaign not only convinced the public that the only suitable gift for engagement is a diamond, but also served to limit the market in used diamonds. [1] Artificial scarcity is an economic term describing the scarcity of items even though the technology and production capacity exists to create an abundance. ... William-Adolphe Bouguereau The Proposal An engagement is an agreement or promise to marry, and also refers to the time between proposal and marriage. ...

De Beers distributes diamonds to favored customers (called sightholders) by selecting batches of diamonds themselves and offering them "as is". Now and in the past De Beers has sold diamonds mined from their own mines, most of which are in South Africa and Botswana. Currently, De Beers is involved in a joint venture that is developing a diamond prospect in Canada. A sightholder is a company on the Diamond Trading Companys (DTC) list of authorized bulk purchasers of rough diamonds. ...

History

De Beers was founded on 13 March 1888 by Cecil John Rhodes along with Charles Dunell Rudd. In 1902 the De Beers Association Football Club was established when De Beers commenced construction of a dynamite factory near The Strand and Somerset West. The factory was located on the False Bay coast just west of the mouth of the Lourens River. In the 20th century the Oppenheimer family became the major shareholders. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, his son Harry Oppenheimer and his grandson Nicky Oppenheimer have been chairmen of the company. Also see Alex Oppenheimer and Taylor Plant, both heirs and relatives. March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... Cecil Rhodes. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Dynamite is an explosive based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin using diatomaceous earth (Kieselguhr) as an adsorbent. ... Strand (usually refered to as The Strand- in Afrikaans as Strand or Die Strand), is a seaside resort town situated on the eastern edge of False Bay between Maccasser and Gordons Bay, about 50 km southeast of Cape Town, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. ... Somerset West is a town in the Western Cape province in the Republic of South Africa. ... The Cape Peninsula, False Bay (top) and Table Bay,with Robben Island (right), from space, February 1995 False Bay, known in Afrikaans as Valsbaai, is a body of water defined by the Cape Peninsula (the finger-like projection on the right in the accompanying satellite image) and Cape Hangklip (Dutch... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Oppenheimer may be the surname of: Alan Oppenheimer, a film actor David Oppenheimer, a mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, founder of a producers cooperative & single channel marketing, the forerunner of De Beers Frank Oppenheimer, a physicist Franz Oppenheimer, a German sociologist and political economist Harry Oppenheimer, a... Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – November 25, 1957) – born in Friedberg, Germany – was a diamond, gold mining and financial entrepreneur, and founder of the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. ... Harry Frederick Oppenheimer (28 October 1908 – 19 August 2000), was a prominent South African businessman and one of the worlds richest men. ... Nicholas Nicky F. Oppenheimer (born 8 June 1945) is a billionaire South African businessman, the chairman of the De Beers diamond mining company and its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company. ... Born Rich is a 2003 documentary about the experience of growing up as a child in one of the worlds richest families. ...

The company's name comes from Johannes Nicholas de Beer and Diederik Arnoldus de Beer, two Afrikaner farmers on whose farm, called Vooruitzicht, near the confluence of the Orange River and the Vaal River, diamonds were discovered. The brothers were not able to protect the farm from the ensuing diamond rush, and sold it for £6300. Two diamond mines formed on the site, known as the Kimberley Mine (also known as the "Big Hole") and the De Beers Mine. Although the brothers did not become the owners of the mines, one of the mines was named after them. Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd gained control of both the De Beers mine and the Kimberley, South Africa mine and merged them, forming De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. See also Barney Barnato, an important competitor to Cecil Rhodes, whose company's diamond interests in the Cape Colony were bought out by De Beers for a check written for 4 million pounds, the largest single check written up to that time in history. Afrikaners are an ethnic group primarily associated with Southern Africa and the Afrikaans language. ... The Orange River is the major river in South Africa. ... The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. ... Cecil Rhodes. ... Kimberley is a town in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. ... Barney Barnato (4 July 1852 - 4 July 1897), born Barnett Isaacs Barnato, was a South African diamond magnate. ...

In the late 19th century, South Africa underwent rapid industrialisation during the "Mineral Revolution", creating an increasingly high demand for labourers to work in the colony's gold and diamond mines. In Kimberley, industrial labour was largely provided by Khoi and Xhosa seasonal migrants - young men who would travel to the diamond mines to work for wages in the summer, but this was unreliable and did not provide a static pool of workers. This, combined with the increasing paranoia that workers were stealing diamonds, led to De Beers introducing closed compounds for their workers. Mine workers signed fixed-term contracts with the company agreeing to remain on-site for the duration. Although white workers were allowed to live in the town, black workers were required to live on the compounds, where their wages were exchanged for accommodation, meals, and vast amounts of cheap sorghum beer provided by the company. Black workers were allowed into town on weekends, but this was curtailed in 1887 to prevent the entire labour force turning up on Monday mornings with hangovers. During the apartheid era, the company was granted state permission to use prisoners for prison labor. By the end of the 19th century, De Beers was using over 10,000 prison laborers daily. ^{(dubious assertion—see talk page)} The majority of the prisoners were incarcerated because of strict apartheid laws, similar to the Pass Law which was enacted in 1952.[2] Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Mineral Revolution is a term used by historians to refer to the rapid industrialisation and economic changes which occurred in South Africa from the 1870s onwards. ... The Khoikhoi (men of men) or Khoi are a division of the Khoisan ethnic group of south-western Africa, closely related to the Bushmen (San). ... The Xhosa people are a group of peoples of Bantu origins living in south-east South Africa. ... A contract is a promise or an agreement made of a set of promises. ... Species About 30 species, see text Sorghum is a genus of about 20 species of grasses, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Eastern Africa, with one species native to Mexico. ... A selection of bottled beers A selection of cask beers Beer is one of the worlds oldest alcoholic beverages, possibly brewed for the first time over 10,000 years ago, according to renowned beer writer Michael Jackson. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ... A company is, in general, any group of persons, which are known as its members, united to pursue a common interest. ... Penal labour is a form of the unfree labour. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and were one of the dominant features of the countrys apartheid system. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In the first half-decade of the 1970s, the world's mines began producing an increasing number of small (less than 0.25 carats) stones, which caused De Beers to purchase more small stones than it could sell at its current prices. Instead of placing the surplus small stones on the market, which would reduce their price and possibly ramify the prices of diamonds in general, De Beers reduced the flow of small diamonds to the market and began an advertising campaign to increase the demand for small diamonds. Some of De Beers's advertisements attempted to make the public "think small." Others enticed the public to buy small diamonds clustered into brooches, pendants, rings, and other jewellery. Other ads attempted to establish a new tradition (similar to the engagement ring) which encouraged older married people to give their spouses an "eternity ring" — which consisted of a band containing many small diamonds — as a symbol of continuing affection and appreciation. This campaign was very successful, as the demand and price of small diamonds rose throughout the 1970s.^[2] The carat is a unit of mass used for gems, and equals 200 milligrams or 3. ... Aquamarine, platinum, and diamond brooch/pendant worn by Mrs. ... A pendant (from Old French) is a hanging object, generally attached to a necklace or an earring. ... A yellow gold engagement ring set with a diamond, and a white gold wedding ring. ...

In the late 1970s and the '80s, several factors collectively threatened De Beers's diamond monopoly:

1. An Israeli attempt to break the CSO's control over the market (although this endeavor backfired and nearly broke the Israeli diamond-cutting industry)
2. The early 1980s recession.
3. The former Soviet Union's increased sale of polished diamonds in the world market.
4. Investors and speculators who reacted to the falling prices by releasing their diamonds into the market in an attempt to sell before prices drop further.
5. Lower inflation rates in the industrialized countries.
6. Tremendous production from De Beers's new Jwaneng mines in Botswana.
7. The withdrawal of Zaire (the world's largest producer of diamonds) from the CSO.
8. Western Australia's Ashton Argyle mine, which added est.40% to the world's diamond output in 1985.

In 1981, both the CSO's sales and De Beers's profits fell by almost 50%. The rate of return on equity was reduced from over 30% to 20%. The price of a "one-carat D-flawless brilliant" investment diamond dropped dramatically from C$60,000 to $6,000 between 1980 and 1985. However, De Beers maintained its monopoly and price structure as it reacted decisively with: The carat is a unit of mass used for gems, and equals 200 milligrams or 3. ... Jewelers set diamonds in groups of similar colors. ... This article discusses the use of diamonds as an investment. ...

1. The preservation of the rough-cut stones' prices.
2. C$1.3 billion of De Beers's diamonds withheld from the market in 1981.
3. An agreement with Australia to market nearly all of the gemstone-quality rough diamonds from Ahston Argyle.
4. Reduced production from the Premier Mine.
5. The layoff of almost 500 workers.
6. The closing of the Koffiefontein and Lesotho mines.
7. Reduced production of diamonds by more than 2 million carats in 1982.
8. Coercion of Zaire (mainly a producer of boart) back into the CSO; De Beers unloaded its large inventory of boart into the market, which reduced the price of boart by 67% in two years before Zaire rejoined the CSO.
9. A multimillion-dollar ad campaign which promoted large diamonds, increasing demand for the most expensive stones.^[2]

De Beers is currently building a retail location in the Beverly Hills section of Los Angeles. This is De Beers's second retail location in the U.S. The first one is located in New York City. The company is also actively seeking space for a Chicago location. The Premier Mine is an underground diamond mine owned by De Beers that is situated in the town of Cullinan, 40 kilometers east of Pretoria, Gauteng Province, South Africa. ... Koffiefontein is a small sheep farming town in the Free State Province of South Africa. ... For the fictional word, see Made_up words in The Simpsons. ...

Marketing

De Beers has actively promoted diamonds as being symbolic of eternity and love, and therefore the ideal jewel for an engagement or wedding ring. Their famously successful advertising campaigns have included measures such as:

• showing diamonds as wedding gifts in popular romance films
• publishing stories in magazines and newspapers which would emphasize the romantic value of diamonds and associate them with celebrities
• employing fashion designers and other trendsetters to promote the trend on radio and, later, television
• enlisting the British Royal Family to directly promote diamonds
• sponsoring the 2007 Formula 1 car for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro[3]

This campaign was described by De Beers' PR agency N.W. Ayer & Son as "a new form of advertising which has been widely imitated ever since" with "no brand name to be impressed on the public mind. There was simply an idea—the eternal emotional value surrounding the diamond." Indeed, the campaign succeeded in reviving the American diamond market, which had been weakened by "competitive luxuries", and in opening new markets where none had existed before. In Japan, for example, diamonds were successfully promoted as a western symbol of status, which coincided with Japan's cultural opening after World War II. Japan is today the second largest market for retail diamonds. The romance film has as its central plot the beginning, obstruction and eventual, though often tragic, fruition of a romance. ... A celebrity is a person who is widely recognized (famous) in a society and commands a high degree of public and media attention. ... Members of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Colour ceremony Close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom are known by the appellation The Royal Family. ... Formula One, abbreviated to F1 and also known as Grand Prix racing, is the highest class of single-seat open-wheel auto racing. ... The current Ferrari logo Ferrari is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. ... Public relations (PR) is the art of destroying communication between an organization and its key publics to tear down, mis-manage and create an inaccurate image. ... N.W. Ayer & Son was the first advertising agency in the United States, founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1869. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

The slogan "A Diamond is Forever," invented by N. W. Ayer, is one of the most successful slogans in marketing history. Its purpose is to prevent the creation of a secondary market by dissuading women from selling the diamonds they have received and by discouraging them from buying diamonds which other women have owned. The consequence of this is that retailers can sell diamonds at a high price without competition from a secondary market, and it allows De Beers to maintain control of the diamond trade at wholesale level. Look up Slogan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The secondary market is the financial market for trading of securities that have already been issued in an initial private or public offering. ... The secondary market is the financial market for trading of securities that have already been issued in an initial private or public offering. ...

Laboratory created diamonds

In recent years, techniques for creating high quality real diamonds in a laboratory setting have become a threat to the pricing of natural diamonds. DeBeers has decided to defend their market by taking the following actions:

• A marketing campaign will be aimed at convincing potential customers that laboratory diamonds are "fake" (even though they are real diamonds, and potentially may be of higher quality than natural diamonds).
• All natural diamonds will be imprinted with a serial number and registered, to prevent laboratory diamonds from being sold as natural diamonds.

Retail venture

In 2001, De Beers launched a joint venture with French luxury goods company LVMH in order to establish De Beers as a retail brand. The joint venture, called De Beers LV, has a license from De Beers SA to use the De Beers brand name in a retail environment. Before the venture was allowed to begin, the European Union competition commission launched an investigation into whether the venture would give De Beers too great a control over the rough diamond market. An initial one-month probe determined that a longer investigation was necessary. The commission eventually allowed the joint venture to go ahead in July 2001. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... A Lincoln Town Car luxury sedan is an example of a typical luxury good. ... LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. (Euronext: MC), usually shortened to LVMH, is a French holding company and the worlds largest luxury goods conglomerate. ...

The venture has since opened ten retail stores across the globe.

Legal issues

In 1994, De Beers was charged by the United States Justice Department with antitrust violations for conspiring to fix prices for industrial diamonds. On 14 July 2004 De Beers pleaded guilty to the charges and paid a $10-million fine. The plea has enabled De Beers to trade directly in the United States diamond market after years of acting through intermediaries. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ... The Sherman Antitrust Act, formally known as the Act of July 2, 1890, ch. ... // A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

List of locations

• London
  • Bond Street
  • Royal Exchange
• Tokyo
  • Ginza Matsuya
  • Nihonbashi Takashimaya
  • Shinjuku Isetan
• Osaka
  • Shinsaibashi Daimaru
  • Hankyu Umeda
• New York City
  • Fifth Avenue — The first United States venture. Opened on June 23, 2005.
• Beverly Hills
  • Rodeo Drive
• Paris
  • Le Printemps
• Dubai
  • Mall of the Emirates

London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... An arcade in Old Bond Street Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. ... The term Royal Exchange can refer to: The Royal Exchange in London The Royal Exchange in Manchester The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Tokyo , literally Eastern capital)   is the capital of Japan. ... Osaka ) is the capital of Osaka Prefecture and the third-largest city in Japan, with a population of 2. ... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Street sign at Fifth Avenue and East 57th street Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in New York City. ... June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see: Beverly Hills (disambiguation). ... Rodeo Drive Rodeo Drive (pronounced Spanish: ro-DAY-oh) is a famous three-block long stretch of boutiques and shops in Beverly Hills, California, United States. ...   City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land area... Boulevard Haussmann Printemps and Métro stop at night Printemps (meaning spring in French) is a French department store (or a grand magasin, literally big store). The flagship Printemps store is located on Boulevard Haussmann in the IXe arrondissement of Paris along with other famous department stores like Galeries Lafayette. ... Coordinates: Emirate Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Area    - City 4,114 km² Population    - City (2006) 1,241,000[1]  - Density 293. ... The Mall of the Emirates is a shopping mall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. ...

Popular culture

• Crime journalist Kris Hollington has written a book, Diamond Geezers, about the spectacular attempted theft of the De Beers Millennium Collection from the Millennium Dome which took place in November 2000.
• The James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever directly cites De Beers.
• In the Family Guy episode "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater", the famous De Beers commercial is parodied. Silhouettes of a man giving a woman a ring are shown. Afterward, the woman appears to kneel, presumably to perform oral sex. The end card reads, "She'll pretty much have to."
• In Clive Cussler's book Shock Wave, a private corporation tries to challenge De Beers by dumping a huge supply of diamonds onto the market at a low price.
• Comedian Ron White has a joke about truth in advertising, stating De Beers's slogan should be "Diamonds, that'll shut her up."
• On Kanye West's second album, Late Registration, there is a song called "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" which features a sample of Shirley Bassey's "Diamonds are Forever." The original song was part of the soundtrack for the James Bond movie of the same name. West's song, which features rapper Jay-Z, criticizes the diamond industry for its ruthless practices in parts of Africa.

Millennium Star Weight 203. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond 007, is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1952. ... A 2002 Penguin Books paperback edition Diamonds Are Forever, published in 1956, is the fourth James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. ... Family Guy is an American animated comedy created by Seth MacFarlane for FOX in 1999. ... Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater is an episode from the second season of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. ... Oral sex (from Latin os, oris mouth) consists of all the sexual activities that involve the use of the mouth and tongue, to stimulate genitalia. ... Clive Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Alhambra, California) is an American adventure novelist. ... Shock Wave is a book written by Clive Cussler. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977) is a six-time Grammy Award-winning American producer/rapper. ... Late Registration is the second major label album release from Roc-A-Fella hip hop artist and producer Kanye West. ... The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond 007, is a fictional British spy created by writer Ian Fleming in 1952. ... Jay-Z (aka the Jigga, HOV and Hova, born Shawn Carter on December 4, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York) is an African American rapper/hip hop artist and record label executive; one of the most popular and successful rappers of the late 1990s and early 2000s. ...

See also

• Diamonds as an investment

This article discusses the use of diamonds as an investment. ...

Notes and references

1. ^ Boone, Louis E., Contemporary Business, Thomson South-Western (2006), p. 81
2. ^ ^a b Thexton, James D. (1992). Economics: a Canadian perspective. Toronto: Oxford University Press, pp.182–3. ISBN 0-19-540747-4.

External links

• De Beers official homepage
• Official homepage of the De Beers/LVMH retail joint venture
• Yahoo! - De Beers Centenary AG Company Profile
• Yahoo! - De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited Company Profile
• DeBeers and Beyond: The History of the International Diamond Cartel
• History of the deBeers company
• History of Diamond Marketing and DeBeers
• Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Accept a Diamond
• Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?
• PBS Frontline: The Diamond Empire
• The History of Diamond Mines in South Africa by Gardner F. Williams Vol I and Diamond Mines Vol. II 800-page work by former General Manager of De Beers.

U.S. court case links

• De Beers settles from BBC News (17 July 2004).
• De Beers plans to settle from The Age(10 July 2004).
• De Beers plans to settle (10 July 2004) from the Washington Times
• The Times (London) 8 February 2004 article on recent developments.
• Mail on Sunday (UK) 20 April 2004 article on history of USA indictment.