GemThoughts

Sometime in the last month or so the seven billionth living person joined us, or so say the demographers.  We also learn that the world population grew by a billion in just 12 years, and probably another billion in the next 12 years or less.  As a reference, about 50 years ago there were three billion people on the planet.  We know the world's resources are strained now to meet the need of 7 billion people, never mind the 10 billion or so expected before the end of the century. Let us accept for the moment that the world will adapt - somehow.  A little optimism is a good thing.  But according to futurists and prognosticators, that adaptation will come at the expense of many of our treasured standards of living.  While we in the US and elsewhere in the developed world might be struggling to maintain those standards, many hundreds of millions elsewhere in the world aspire to become "Americans", to enjoy the benefits of leisure time and modern conveniences. ...

We read today that Stephen Lussier's, of De Beers, stated that there will be no changes in De Beers operations.  It would have been destructive to have said otherwise.  Such comments are a necessary part of keeping the boat from rocking.  There is nothing else he could really say.  As the closing on this sale will take time, it is of paramount importance to have "business as usual."  By the time Anglo fully takes over, Lussier's comments will have faded away. I thinking about this kind of distance between actions, I cannot help thinking there has been some pre-planning in the Oppenheimer sale.  There had been some rumblings about a sale at least a year ago.  But there were a few open issues that had to be dealt with first. First, Nicholas Oppenheimer had to quit the Anglo board, a necessary move as his presence at this juncture would once again tie him to whatever moves Anglo wants to makes.  Second, there had to be a new contract with Bot...

The news today that the Oppenheimer family has sold out its remaining share of De Beers to Anglo-American, subject to regulatory approvals, brings to a close a remarkable era, and the extraordinary tale of the Oppenheimer family.  In many ways, the diamond industry owes its success and perhaps its very existence to this family.  Observers have been commenting for over a decade on De Beers' struggles to transform itself from a near monopoly into a modern commercial operation.  At every turn, it fought to maintain control of its distribution and historical methods, and step by step it has been forced to retreat.  At the core, the issue was whether it could create an effective marketing plan that would create added profits--and justify the existence of a complex marketing and sales organization, the DTC.  European regulators forced it to sever its long-time control of Russian diamond production, and to create a cumbersome and onerous system for continuing its sig...