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De Beers and Beyond:
*
The History of the International Diamond Cartel
Diamonds are forever hold of them. The idea of making diamonds
available to the general public seemed un-
A gemstone is the ultimate luxury thinkable. When diamonds were first found
product. It has no material use. Men in South Africa in 1867, however, supply in-
and women desire to have diamonds creased rapidly, although the notion of dia-
not for what they [diamonds] can do monds as a precious and rare commodity re-
1
but for what they desire. mained to the present day.
Similar to the gold miners in California, dia-
To hear these words from a person who at- mondminersinSouthAfricatendedtorushto
2
tributes his entire wealth and power to the the latest findings. As a matter of principle,
trade of diamonds illustrates the peculiar na- diamond miners preferred to work by them-
ture of the diamond market: Jewelry dia- selves. However, the scarcity of resourceful
monds are unjustifiably expensive, given they land and the need for a minimum of common
are not actually scarce and would fetch a price infrastructure forced them to live together in
of $2 to $30 if put to industrial use. Still, limited areas. In order to fight o? latecom-
by appealing to the customers’ sentiment, di- ers and to settle disputes, Diggers Committees
amonds are one of the most precious lux- were formed and gave out claims in a region.
ury items and enjoy almost global acceptance. Each digger would be allocated one claim, or,
This fact is often attributed to the history at most, two.
of one company. DeBeers, founded by Cecil
Since digging diamonds on a larger scale
Rhodes in 1870, has been a highly successful
was virtually impossible for individuals, small
and e?ective controller of the diamond mar-
claimholders soon merged into larger ones.
ket, havingdevelopedauniquepurchasingand
Moreover, equipment for digging, hauling the
marketing cartel that has influenced prices in
dirt up and pumping water out of the mines
the market virtually undisturbed for almost a
was purchased or rented by groups of min-
century. Lately, however, there are signs that
ers, thereby forced to cooperate even more
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moreandmoreplayersseemreadytochallenge
intensively. Cecil Rhodes was one of the
DeBeers’ dominance, and ever since, DeBeers
first businessmen to rent out pumping equip-
has struggled to keep the cartel intact.
ment and soon realized that he had tapped a
vast market potential. He reinvested the ini-
tial proceeds from equipment rental in acquir-
Diamonds and the Cartel ing claims. By 1880, he held a large enough
share of diamond claims to justify a separate
For centuries, the only two countries produc-
company purely concerned with managing the
ing diamonds were India and Brazil. Up to
mines: thus DeBeers Mining Company was
the middle of the 19th century, the world
created. By 1887, the company was the sole
supply of diamonds was so scarce that even
owner of South African diamond mines.
monarchs and noblemen found it hard to get
Concurrently, Cecil Rhodes took control of
* the distribution channels through “The Di-
This case was written by Tobias Kretschmer un-
der the supervision of Professor Lu′?s Cabral. Finan- amond Syndicate,” an alliance of merchants
cial Support by the Material or Research Fund from
2
London Business School is gratefully acknowledged. In fact, most of the early diamond miners usedc 1998, London Business School. to be gold diggers, attracted by the enormous riches
1
Nicky Oppenheimer, DeBeers deputy chairman, at surrounding diamonds.
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a Foreign Correspondents Association Lunch. (Source: The diamonds were located in increasingly lower
Reuters.) soils that contained underground water.
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