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UNDER PRESSURE

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.

Planet Fitness local gym and workout center. Planet Fitness markets itself as a Judgment Free Zone.

How many people can you cram into one gym? For Planet Fitness, the jury’s still out

The limit does not exist. But if it did, it might be about 7,263.

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Paramount Announces It's Cutting 2,000 Jobs

Paramount improved its Warner Bros. offer to $31 per share

WBD confirmed receipt of the new offer on Tuesday and said it would review the proposal.

Max Knoblauch2/24/26

Archer Aviation sues rival Vertical, alleging air taxi design patent infringement

Archer Aviation alleged that Vertical’s Valo aircraft “mimics” its own Midnight aircraft.

Max Knoblauch2/24/26

Max Knoblauch2/23/26

Paramount is expected to raise its Warner Bros. offer to $32 per share

Paramount’s seven-day window to talk to Warner Bros. Discovery about its best and final offer is set to end at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, and the company is expected to finally raise the per-share dollar amount of its bid.

According to reporting by Variety, Paramount’s revised offer is likely to arrive at $32 per share for the HBO and CNN parent.

Paramount’s last major revision to its offer came earlier this month, when it said it would cover the $2.8 billion breakup fee that WBD would owe Netflix in the event of that deal falling apart, and would pay shareholders a “ticking fee” of $0.25 per share for every quarter the deal hasn’t closed after the end of 2026.

Netflix’s next move will be determined by the response of Warner Bros.’ board. Per reporting by Reuters, the streamer has ample cash to increase its own offer for its streaming rival. Analysts at MoffettNathanson Research last week said they expect Netflix to walk away from Warner Bros. if Paramount’s bid comes in “well beyond” $32.

As of Monday at 9 a.m. ET, prediction markets speculating on which company will ultimately come out on top of the bidding war have Netflix at a 46% chance over Paramount’s 43% odds.

Also potentially affecting prediction markets is a Truth Social post by President Trump on Sunday, in which Trump wrote that Netflix must fire board member Susan Rice immediately or "pay the consequences."

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Paramount Is Expected to Raise Price of Warner Bros. Discovery Bid. Will Netflix Walk Away?

As of Monday at 9 a.m. ET, prediction markets speculating on which company will ultimately come out on top of the bidding war have Netflix at a 46% chance over Paramount’s 43% odds.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Max Knoblauch2/20/26

Microsoft makes dramatic shake-up to its gaming division as gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox President Sarah Bond depart

Microsoft’s gaming division underwent a major shake-up on Friday, as the tech giant announced the departure of gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who led the division for 12 years and championed its Game Pass subscription service.

Xbox President Sarah Bond is also out, according to Spencer’s memo to employees.

Xbox has fallen significantly behind rivals Sony and Nintendo in recent years. Microsoft raised Xbox console prices twice last year and bumped subscription fees up 50%. In November, the console was even outsold (in unit sales) by the motion-controlled Nex Playground console.

The pair have overseen a shift at Xbox from standard consoles to an array of consoles, handhelds, and various devices and screens accessed via cloud gaming.

Spencer’s replacement as the head of gaming is Microsoft’s president of CoreAI product, Asha Sharma. In a memo to staff, Sharma made three commitments: great games, the “return of Xbox,” and to “invent new business models and new ways to play.”

Xbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft