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De Beers De Beers is a London and Johannesburg based diamond mining corporation. It has historically held a near total monopoly in the diamond trade. However, recently Israeli interests have captured 20% of the market. De Beers had been for many years under indictment in the United States for antitrust violations. On Wednesday 14th July 2004, De Beers pled guilty to the charges and paid a $10m fine. The plea enables De Beers to trade in the United States diamond market directly after years of acting through intermediaries. The US diamond market is the largest in the world with sales in the region of $500m per annum. De Beers has used its monopoly to create an artificial scarcity of diamonds, 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 1939. 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.http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/82feb/8202diamond1.htm De Beers distributes diamonds to favored customers (called sightholders) by selecting batches of diamonds themselves and offering them as is. Following the distressing use of diamond revenues by African revolutionaries engaged in diamond smuggling (blood diamonds), De Beers now sells only diamonds mined from their own mines, most of which are in South Africa and Botswana. They are currently involved in a joint venture which is developing a diamond prospect in Canada. Retail joint venture In 2001, De Beers launched a joint venture with luxury goods company LVMH in order to establish De Beers as a retail brand. The joint venture, called De Beers LV has a licence from De Beers SA to use the De Beers brand name in a retail environment. The venture has since opened two stores, one in London and a second in Tokyo. Following the settling of the United States anti-trust case, De Beers said that it planned to open a store in New York. Before the venture was allowed to begin, the EU 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. History De Beers was founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes. In the 20th century the major shareholders became the Oppenheimer family. Sir Ernest, his son Harry Oppenheimer and his grandson Nicky Oppenheimer have been chairmen of the company. External links De Beers official homepage Official homepage of the De Beers/LMVH retail joint venture U.S. court case links De Beers settles (17th July 2004) from BBC News De Beers plans to settle (10th July 2004) from The Age De Beers plans to settle (10th July 2004) from the Washington Times The Times (London) 8 Feb 2004 article on recent developments. Mail on Sunday (UK) 20 April 2004 article on history of USA indictment. Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beers