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De Beers

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Introduction
In this paper I will be explaining how the diamond company manufacturing and importing company, De Beers, violated US antitrust laws in an effort to become the most sort after monopoly in the diamond manufacturing and importing industry. I will also be discussing how De Beers maintained their monopolistic power.
Violation of Antitrust Laws
De Beers was investigated for antitrust behavior because the company ended up violating antitrust laws. They violated antirust laws by importing and exporting diamonds from countries they were prohibited from buying diamonds from such as Sierra Leone. Also they purchased products from “outside producers” (Bates, 2) which were “BHP, Rio Tinto, and Alrosa” (Bates 2). Also De Beers was largely behind fixing the price of rough diamonds in order to make increase their profits and take away from other diamond companies.
Pecuniary and Nonpecuiniary costs
The antitrust act that was violated was the Sherman Act. Under the Sherman Act companies are prohibited from conducting any type of acts that would help to destroy healthy competition. There were several pecuniary and nonpecuiniary costs associated with antitrust behavior of the De Beers Company. Their actions cost other diamond companies millions of dollars so a settlement of “300 million”(Bates, 1) was greater to other diamond companies who substantiated a loss. Monopoly versus Oligopoly I believe that a monopoly can be bad for society because it eliminates competition. Without competition there wouldn’t be different prices or companies wouldn’t compete to try to make better quality products at reasonable prices. One main producer could have the power to

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