Another key figure in the history of the diamond trade was German-born businessman and financier Ernest Oppenheimer. After he established the Anglo American Corporation, he bought De Beers shares whenever they came up for sale. By 1927 he was one of the most significant shareholders of the company; he was later named chairman. Under his leadership De Beers evolved into a global diamond empire. Led by Oppenheimer and his descendants, an interrelated group of companies emerged that dominated the mining, trading, marketing and industrial manufacturing sectors of the diamond business for the majority of the twentieth century and remains a.
