De Beers write-down $2.3B

The market had been anticipating a De Beers write-down since Anglo flagged two weeks ago that it was considering this. However, the scale is at the higher end of expectations.

Anglo gave two main reasons for the decision: A “prolonged shifting of customer preference between natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds” as well as a “surplus of availability of rough relative to prevailing demand.” Further factors include “macroeconomic uncertainty,” such as US tariffs and weak Chinese demand.

“Management has updated its best estimates regarding the expected timing of differentiation between [lab-grown diamonds] and natural diamonds to reflect higher penetration in the short term, although the residual impact on natural diamonds in the medium to long term remains unchanged,” the company said.

We have seen a gradual deterioration in Anglo’s view of De Beers and the diamond market. The parent company previously wrote down De Beers’ value in 2024 and again in 2025. In between those two shifts, in May 2024, it announced it planned to sell or de-merge De Beers. Once the crown in the jewel, De Beers had become a liability because of uncertainty in the natural-diamond market.

The parent company continues those efforts to offload De Beers. The company is “in the advanced stages of discussions with a select group of interested parties,” Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad said on a post-results earnings call. “All of these parties are strategic, and we are at the back end of our formal processes. We continue to have very constructive discussions with the government of of Botswana, who, of course, are going to be crucial in the determination of the end point of this process"‘. Source: Rapaport