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. 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. He built and consolidated the company's global monopoly over the diamond industry until his death in 1957. Morgan, was elected to the board of De Beers. 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. 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. Competition has since dismantled the complete monopoly the De Beers Group now sells approximately 29.5% of the world's rough diamond production by value through its global sightholder and auction sales businesses. It operates in 35 countries and mining takes place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Canada and Australia.įrom 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. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and coastal mining. De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond sourcing, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors.

Whole sale cyndicate rough diamond