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De Beers Group

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Corporation

The Resume

    (1888- )
    Founded by Cecil Rhodes
    Mines and markets diamonds
    20,000 employees
    Revenues of $6.08 billion (2018)

Why De Beers Group might be annoying:

    It artificially restricts the diamond supply to keep prices high.
    At its peak, it controlled 80-85% of the diamond market, giving it an effective monopoly.
    It has been accused of trading in ‘blood diamonds’ from conflict zones in Africa.
    It has been accused of forcibly removing San (Bushmen) tribe members from land in Botswana where diamond mines were discovered.
    It pled guilty to colluding with General Electric to fix prices of artificial diamonds and paid a $10 million fine (2004).
    It agreed to pay $295 million to settle class-action suits charging it with price fixing, deceptive advertising, and human rights violations (2008).
    Their advertising brainwashed people into thinking that they need to spend two months' salary on an engagement ring to get married.

Why De Beers Group might not be annoying:

    Their mantra ‘A diamond is forever’ was named best advertising slogan of the 20th century by Advertising Age.
    The government of Botswana owns 15% of the company.
    It stopped purchasing diamonds from outside dealers to avoid trading in blood diamonds (2000).
    It played a major role in establishing the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme to prevent blood diamonds from entering the mainstream diamond market (2003).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 24 Votes: 83.33% Annoying