Anglo American halves De Beers’ value as the natural diamond slump deepens

The miner has now written down De Beers by roughly $6.8 billion over the past three years.

2/23/26 10:33AM

The gemstone giant that once sold the world on “A Diamond is Forever” just got its value slashed again.

On Friday, Anglo American announced a $2.3 billion impairment on its De Beers unit — the world’s largest diamond miner by value — in 2025, its third write-down in three years.

Rough patch

De Beers’ natural stone business has been losing its luster for some time, as China’s luxury slowdown has weighed on demand and cheaper, near-identical lab-grown diamonds have intensified competition, putting downward pressure on natural diamond prices. Excess supply of rough diamonds and US tariffs on India — where 90% of diamonds are cut and polished — have only added further strain.

To boost slowing sales volumes, De Beers offered bulk discounts — but that cut into margins. Its billion-dollar profits vanished in 2023 and 2024, before turning into heavy losses last year as the company booked EBITDA of -$511 million in 2025.

Anglo American’s net loss came in at $3.7 billion for the year, driven largely by the De Beers impairment. Fortunately for the mining group, diamonds are no longer core. After fending off a ~$50 billion takeover bid from BHP Group in 2024, Anglo is pivoting away from diamonds and coal to copper and iron ore. In September, it agreed to merge with Canada’s Teck Resources to form a $53 billion copper giant, as the metal becomes more precious owing to its importance amid the EV and AI infrastructure booms.

Meanwhile, Anglo is pressing ahead with plans to sell De Beers, with potential buyers including African governments, notably Botswana (already a 15% shareholder) and Angola. CEO Duncan Wanblad said Friday that he’s “optimistic” a deal will be signed in 2026.

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American Airlines joins the flock, hiking bag fees amid higher jet fuel prices

American Airlines on Thursday announced that it, too, will be hiking the fees it charges customers to check luggage.

With the move, all four of the major US airlines, which together control about 80% of the US market, have now hiked their baggage fees in recent days amid surging jet fuel prices.

The change will go into effect on tickets bought on or after Thursday, the same day Southwest’s hike begins.

Since late March, JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Canada’s WestJet, and Southwest have hiked their fees. Experts expect more major carriers to follow, and to potentially tweak the pricing of other ancillary revenue sources like seat assignments and carry-on luggage.

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The change will go into effect on tickets bought on or after Thursday, the same day Southwest’s hike begins.

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Less than a year after implementing them, Southwest is also hiking its bag fees

Southwest Airlines has joined the growing list of airlines opting to hike their bag fees amid sustained higher jet fuel costs.

Starting today, the first checked bag at the carrier — which implemented bag fees less than a year ago — will jump from $35 to $45, and the second from $45 to $55. Southwest quietly disclosed the change Tuesday.

Southwest assigned the decision to “part of an ongoing analysis of the business and against the evolving global backdrop.”

As of Wednesday, jet fuel prices dropped to $4.16 a gallon, per the Argus US Jet Fuel Index, down from $4.81 on Tuesday following President Trump’s ceasefire announcement, which sent travel stocks soaring. Major airlines have shed some of those gains in premarket trading Thursday.

With the move to hike bag fees, Southwest joins JetBlue, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Canada’s WestJet, all of which also boosted fees this month. Experts expect more major carriers to follow, and to potentially tweak the pricing of other ancillary revenue sources like seat assignments and carry-on luggage.