Lev Leviev is a business man who has a large stake in diamonds. He was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1956. His family immigrated to Israel in 1971 at the age of fifteen, and he soon became a diamond polisher. After serving some time in the Israel Defense Forces, he established his own polishing plant, where he thrived for many years.
In the early 1990s, Leviev established business endeavors in the former Soviet Union, where he owns diamonds mines as well as other non-diamond businesses including an Israeli-Russian television station. He is also the chairman of the board of directors for a company he bought called Africa Israel Investments Limited, which he bought for $400 million dollars. This company is currently worth over $6 billion.
Lev Leviev is significant in the diamond world due to his amazing stance against the DeBeers diamond company in Russia. He was able to loosen the grip DeBeers had on the diamond market and due to his diligence, DeBeers can no longer set diamond prices in the market today. By controlling the mining, cutting, and selling of a large amount of his own diamonds, DeBeers no longer controls the vast majority of diamonds in the world. Although they still control many of the world’s diamonds, they no longer control the pricing structure of diamonds in general.
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