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Quelle: University of Carlifornia, Geologisches Institut
http://www.geology.ucdavis.edu/
"In 1919 the South African Government arranged a new producers' agreement, and a consortium including Ernest Oppenheimer took over the fields in Namibia. By 1926 Oppenheimer and his company Anglo American felt strong enough for a showdown with De Beers, and after negotiations each company took a large shareholding in the other, with Oppenheimer essentially running both.
After the great stock market crash of 1929, Oppenheimer realized that demand and sales would drop, while production continued. In 1930 he set up a new company, the Diamond Corporation Limited, specifically to bear the costs of keeping large stocks of diamonds off the sales market, while assuring some kind of cash flow to the producers. Oppenheimer was chairman of both De Beers and the Diamond Corporation by this time, and De Beers and the Rothschilds actually provided most of the cash for four years.
De Beers made a profit again in 1934. By a chain of interlocking directorships and joint stock holdings, De Beers was once again the dominant diamond producing company: it held 38% of the stock of Anglo American, and Anglo American held 34% of De Beers. Meanwhile, the Diamond Corporation began to make a profit by the middle 1930s, and dominated diamond buying. By 1939, 97% of the world's diamond trade passed through the Diamond Corporation.
Anglo American Today
The diamond empire of De Beers is now one of about 600 companies associated with »South Africa Inc.« (officially called The Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, 44 Main Street, Johannesburg). Anglo American controls South African gold mines as well as diamond mines, and almost half the capitalization of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange represents companies owned or controlled by Anglo American.
In recent years, Anglo American has gradually shifted its operations to London, and is diversifying outside South Africa to an extent it never did while there was white-minority government in Pretoria. But De Beers had already for years run its diamond-selling operation in London, through a division called the »Central Selling Organization« or CSO. The CSO is the controlling company in a global diamond marketing system (cartel) that ensures stable (high) prices for all producers. In the 1950s, De Beers created one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history with the slogan »A Diamond Is Forever,« which became a household phrase and made diamonds the stone of choice for rings all over the world.
Anglo American and De Beers are still controlled by the Oppenheimer family, whose patriarch is Sir Harry Oppenheimer. When Harry Oppenheimer inherited control in 1957, Anglo American was the world's largest gold producer and produced 15% of the world's copper. It produced half of South Africa's coal. De Beers controlled 80% of global diamond sales, and still does. Harry Oppenheimer has retired as chairman, but his son Nicholas is Deputy Chairman of De Beers and of Anglo American, and is clearly being groomed to take over."
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