Diamonds are a girl's best friend and so is Nicky Oppenheimer
By Ayanda Mlotshwa
When you say the name “Nicky Oppenheimer” people sit up and listen.
According to Alexander Forbes, Nicky Oppenheimer is one of the richest men in South Africa. On March 2012, Forbes reported that Mr. Oppenheimer had an estimated net worth of 6.8 billion dollars… not Rands (that’s child’s play) DOLLARS! If that doesn’t impress you, Nicky is ranked number 139 on the list of global billionaires.
Nicholas Frank Oppenheimer or Nicky as he is popularly known is a South African mining magnate, businessman and chairman of De Beers Diamond Company – the largest diamond producer in the world.
Born on the 8th of June 1945, Nicky was educated at the Harrow School in London and the prestigious Oxford University where he graduated with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
The billionaire is known to live mainly in Brenthurst Gardens Estate in Johannesburg and he also owns Waltham Place, a country estate in England. He is a member of the St. George’s Anglican Church in Parktown. His hobbies include flying helicopters and playing cricket with his only son, Jonathan. He is passionate about wildlife and nature conservation to which he has donated large sums of money and owns the largest private game reserve in South Africa, Tswalu Kalahari Reserve.
Nicky’s grandfather, Ernest Oppenheimer, was the first generation of the Oppenheimer family to chair De Beers which he took over from its founder Cecil John Rhodes. His grandfather was later succeeded by his father, Harry who then handed over the reins to Nicky.
The Oppenheimer family has owned a 40% stake in De Beers for years. However, in November of 2011 Nicky and the Oppenheimer family sold their entire stake of De Beers to Anglo American for 5.1 billion dollars (of which Anglo American already owned 45%, bringing their total stake in De Beers to 85%).
After the recession of 2009, revenues at De Beers increased dramatically and in 2011 De Beers posted returns of 7.4 billion dollars. So you may ask why the already rich Mr. Oppenheimer would want to sell such a lucrative business.
It’s simple really profit margins in the diamond industry aren’t what they used to be – resources are limited and from a business standpoint Mr. Oppenheimer had much to gain from selling his stake. You see, Nicky Oppenheimer also has a 2.43% stake in Anglo American which is an international company – it has divisions all over the globe and makes money in dollars (not just Rands) and it has a market capitalization of 383 billion Rand.
So in the case of Nicky Oppenheimer, if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense. The rich get richer and what we can learn from Mr. Oppenheimer is that to be rich and to grow one’s wealth, you must take risks and get out of your comfort zone every now and then and if you are lucky like Nicky, you calculated risk will pay off… in billions of dollars.
