De Beers Group has announced that it plans to close Lightbox, its lab-grown diamond jewellery brand. The decision reflects the company’s clear shift back to focusing on natural diamonds—where it believes long-term value still holds strong.
Lightbox was launched in 2018 with a clear goal: to make lab-grown diamonds more accessible and to bring transparency to their pricing. It introduced a straightforward model—$800 per carat—and positioned lab-grown stones not as rivals to natural diamonds, but as something different in both origin and worth. Over time, prices in the lab-grown space dropped quickly. At the wholesale level, values have fallen by around 90%, aligning more closely with a cost-plus pricing approach. De Beers sees this shift as a validation that lab-grown diamonds belong in a separate, lower-value category compared to natural diamonds.
Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group, said, “The persistently declining value of lab-grown diamonds in jewellery underscores the growing differentiation between these factory-made products and natural diamonds. Lightbox has helped to highlight the fundamental differences in value between these two categories.”
With global supply of lab-grown diamonds growing, especially from China, and price pressure increasing in the U.S. through low-cost retailers, De Beers doesn’t see a profitable future for Lightbox. The brand’s remaining inventory and certain assets are now being offered to potential buyers.
At the same time, De Beers says existing Lightbox customers will continue to get full support during the transition. This includes honoring warranties and providing after-sales services while the closure process moves forward.
As part of a broader plan announced in May 2024, De Beers is refining its focus on high-return areas through what it calls the Origins Strategy. The approach is centred on simplifying operations and reinforcing the company’s core strength—rare, natural diamonds. With Lightbox being phased out, De Beers intends to channel more investment into marketing that builds long-term desire for natural diamonds.
“As we move towards becoming a standalone company, we continue to optimise our business, reduce costs and build a focused De Beers that is positioned for profitable growth,” Mr. Cook said.
While the jewellery side of lab-grown diamonds is being phased out, De Beers isn’t walking away from synthetic diamonds entirely. Its industrial arm, Element Six, will now be the sole focus for lab-grown production. The company says Element Six, known for supplying synthetic diamonds for advanced industrial use, will keep driving innovations in high-tech fields like semiconductors and quantum technology. With a track record of growth and profitability, Element Six is favourably positioned to drive the future of synthetic diamond solutions in industrial and high-tech applications.
The lab-grown stones will be produced at Element Six’s state-of-the-art facility in Oregon, where De Beers plans to work closely with its global partners to scale up industrial applications.
