How Much Are Lab Grown Diamonds Now, and Can You Still Buy De Beers Stock?

Lab grown diamonds now cost a small fraction of natural stones. De Beers itself said wholesale prices fell 90% between 2018 and 2025. You can't buy De Beers stock: it has been private since 2001, Anglo American owns 85%, Botswana owns 15%, and Anglo is selling it.

Those two questions look unrelated. One is asked by people shopping for a ring, the other by people looking at a ticker. But they're the same story seen from opposite ends. The cheaper lab stones got, the less the world's most famous diamond company was worth. We covered the whole collapse in our documentary, How De Beers Lost $17 Billion. This page sticks to the questions people actually type into Google.

How much are lab grown diamonds?

There's no single honest number, and you should be suspicious of any site that gives you one. Price depends on carat, cut, colour, clarity and who is selling. What we can say with real sources behind it is how fast the price has fallen.

The best price record we have: De Beers' own

De Beers is a useful yardstick because it sold lab grown jewelry itself, under the Lightbox brand, and published flat prices:

• 2018: Lightbox opened at $800 a carat. At the time that looked shockingly low next to mined stones.
• 2024: the entry price was cut to $500 a carat, and De Beers stopped growing stones for jewelry.
• 8 May 2025: De Beers announced Lightbox would close. Its statement said wholesale lab grown jewelry prices had dropped 90% since launch.

Its CEO, Al Cook, made the point in plainer language: you could find lab grown jewelry in American supermarkets for a few hundred dollars. When the company that invented "A Diamond Is Forever" says that out loud, the market has changed.

Why the price keeps dropping

A lab diamond is grown from a small seed, either by HPHT (high pressure, high temperature) or CVD (chemical vapor deposition), in a matter of weeks. Factories can keep making more. Nothing about the supply is scarce, so competition pushes the price toward the cost of production. De Beers said in 2025 that it expected prices to go on falling as Chinese output grew.

What that means if you're buying

• Compare quotes on identical specs: same carat, same cut grade, same colour and clarity.
• Ask for the grading report. Major labs state clearly when a stone is laboratory-grown, and many lab stones carry a tiny laser inscription on the girdle.
• Don't count on resale. When new stones get cheaper every year, a used one has very little market.

Can you buy De Beers stock?

No. This surprises a lot of people, because De Beers feels like a company that ought to be listed somewhere. It used to be. In 2001 Anglo American and the Oppenheimer family took it private in a deal that valued it at roughly $17.6 billion. In 2011 Anglo bought the Oppenheimers' 40% stake.

Today the ownership is simple:

• Anglo American: 85%
• Government of Botswana: 15%

Is there an indirect way in?

Holding Anglo American shares gives you some indirect exposure, but that's shrinking. Anglo put De Beers up for sale in May 2024, after fending off a takeover approach from BHP. So anyone buying Anglo for diamond exposure is buying into a company that's trying to leave the diamond business.

What is De Beers worth now?

This is where the two questions meet. Here's how the value moved, using figures from Anglo's own reporting and major news coverage:

• 2001: about $17.6 billion at the take-private
• February 2026: Anglo cut its carrying value to $2.3 billion, after three write-downs in three years
• July 2026: a consortium led by former De Beers CEO Gareth Penny was named preferred bidder, in a deal reported at about $1 billion
• October 2026: Reuters reported that Richemont, the owner of Cartier, was in talks to join that group

Botswana still holds a right of first refusal, and the sale isn't final. But the direction is clear. Cheap lab stones squeezed demand for mined ones just as the jewelry market slowed after its pandemic boom, and the old business model couldn't absorb it.

Key facts at a glance

• Lab grown and mined diamonds are both crystalline carbon. The US FTC dropped "natural" from its diamond definition in 2018.
• De Beers' Lightbox: $800/carat in 2018, $500/carat in 2024, closure announced 8 May 2025.
• De Beers cited a 90% fall in lab grown wholesale prices since 2018.
• De Beers has been private since 2001; it is not on any stock exchange.
• Ownership: Anglo American 85%, Botswana 15%.
• Value: about $17.6B (2001), $2.3B carrying value (Feb 2026), reported sale at about $1B (2026).
• The Oregon lab factory went to Element Six, De Beers' industrial diamond arm.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a 1 carat lab grown diamond?

It depends heavily on grade and retailer, so compare like for like. As a reference point, De Beers' own price fell from $800 a carat in 2018 to $500 in 2024, and wholesale prices across the market dropped about 90% over the same stretch.

Is De Beers publicly traded?

No. It has been private since 2001. There's no De Beers ticker to buy.

Who is buying De Beers?

As of October 2026, the preferred bidder is the Global Diamond Consortium led by Gareth Penny, at a reported price of about $1 billion. Richemont was reported to be in talks to join. Botswana can still step in first.

Does De Beers still sell lab grown diamonds?

No. It announced the end of Lightbox in May 2025 and now uses lab grown diamonds only for industrial purposes through Element Six.

Are lab grown diamonds a good investment?

Not as an investment, no. Buy one because you like it and the price suits you. Falling prices mean a lab stone is very unlikely to hold its value.

Watch the full story

How did a company that controlled most of the world's diamond supply end up being sold for a fraction of its old value? We tell it from Cecil Rhodes to the 2026 sale talks in How De Beers Lost $17 Billion. For more true business stories like this, subscribe to Magnatefall on YouTube.