June 1, 2018 ▸ Corporation

Episode 302: De Beers: The Ultimate Global Monopoly

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the company that has defined how the entire world views and purchases diamonds, The De Beers Company. Founded in South Africa during the diamond boom of the late 1800s, the company was named after two brothers who had a farm that ended up being rich with diamonds. The British forced them to sell the land, but the name stuck, and when Cecil Rhodes started to buy up all the diamond mines in the area (with the financial backing of the Rothschilds), he kept the name.

Eventually, Rhodes became the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, and he built up his diamond empire and set laws in place to increase his power. Upon his death, the Oppenheimer family took control of the company, and they’ve held it ever since. So what’s the big deal with the De Beers? For one thing, they are part of the Rothschild fortune. For another, they run a monopoly that most consider a cartel. For years, any upper-level employee of De Beers that came to America would be arrested as part of the anti-trust act.

The unique thing about the company, however, isn’t the fact that they control the majority of the world’s uncut diamonds. Instead, it’s because they fix the prices. In fact, the true genius of the De Beers diamond empire isn’t that they own where diamonds come from; it’s that they control the idea of scarcity. Diamonds are not the rare or expensive things they used to be, but the De Beers company does some shady, manipulative, unethical, and often illegal things to keep diamonds seeming rare. Oh, and “Diamonds are Forever,” their masterful campaign? It single-handedly made men put diamonds on engagement rings and artificially created a diamond history that never really existed.