History of De Beers

Founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888, arising from the ‘Diamond Rush’ of the late 1800s and subsequently purchased by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, De Beers is the largest diamond company in the world today.

In 1866, a child walking along the Orange River pick up an odd looking pebble that turned out to be a 21 carat diamond. That discovery in a farm owned by Johannes De Beers sparked the largest diamond mine in history.

In 1880, Cecil Rhodes entered the diamond business through a partial acquisition of the De Beers Mine in South Africa.

He would eventually buy out the other partners and take full control. His purchase eight years later of the richest single source of South African diamonds, the Kimberly Mine, gave Rhodes control of the majority of the world’s output.

In 1888, De Beers started to form a consolidated cartel by buying up mines, restricting supply and raising prices.

In 1902, Sir Ernest arrived in South Africa as a representative of a diamond buying company, and stayed to found and build his diamond empire.

Oppenheimer’s company, Anglo American was asked by De Beers to join its Cartel in 1920. Oppenheimer became chairman of De Beers in 1929.

During the early 1970s De Beers typically accounted for 25% of world natural diamond production. For almost the whole of the twentieth century the South African mining giant De Beers occupied a prime slot in the diamond industry.

In early 2002, DB Investments, itself controlled by the Oppenheimer family and Anglo American, acquired De Beers and De Beers was transformed into a private company.
History of De Beers