Nicky Oppenheimer – Family, Family Tree

Nicholas “Nicky” F. Oppenheimer was born on 8th June 1945 in South Africa. He is a 71 year old South African businessman and philanthropist of German-Jewish origin. He is the former Chairman of De Beers diamond mining company, the Diamond Trading Company. He was listed under top 200 billionaires in the world in 2016 and he stood at rank 2nd among Africa’s Billionaires in 2017. His interests involve reading crime novels, relaxing with his dogs and playing cricket.

Early life and Career:

He went to Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He started working as his Father’s assistant and gradually in 1974; he became the Director of Anglo American and De Beers. He joined the Anglo American Corporation in 1968 as the Personal Assistant to the Chairman (his father) and worked in the Gold and Diamond Divisions. He faced certain challenges by other markets which made him expand his business into retailing.

He was the heir of De Beers’s diamond mining company. During an auction in the year 2016, the rare Oppenheimer Blue diamond, was sold for $57.5 million which set a record for the most expensive diamond sold at an auction. The Oppenheimer family maintained a dominating place in the world’s diamond trade for a really long time. In 2012, Nicholas Oppenheimer sold his 40% stake in DeBeers to mining corporate ‘Anglo American’ for $5.1 billion. He is also a non-executive director of Anglo American Corporation.

Family of Oppenheimer: