A Scary Thought

Trying to dig up dirt on De Beers is like pulling teeth. It’s painful. Well painful in the sense that there’s little to no information that currently condemns the company. Most of the research that I’ve done and the facts that I have are all after 2001 or so. Granted there’s enough about the history and senseless dealings of De Beers that makes me want to vomit, but recent news all praises De Beers for becoming a conflict free company and not tolerating blood diamonds in any way. I happen to believe that the reason why they are so adamant now about proclaiming their stance against conflict diamonds is because it gives them a greater marketing tool. That’s a whole issue in itself. But back to my point on digging up recent dirt on the slimy company. While reading more into my Blood Diamonds book, I discovered something which was a little bit scary. Here’s what I found:

“On June 8, 2001, De Beers officially disappeared from the radar. All publicly owned shares of the company and its subsidiaries were purchased by a consortium of buyers collectively called DB Investments. The absorption of the company from the South African and London stock exchanges into private hands means that De Beers no longer has to make detailed public financial reports to securities organizations or shareholders.” - Greg Campbell, author of Blood Diamonds

How is this possible? Apparently it is, and I guess that gives reason to why I can find little damning evidence against De Beers. What a scary thought.