De Beers Cuts Staff in North America

De Beers has laid off several employees amid a restructuring of its North America operations, the company confirmed.

“A small number of people have left the business in the US recently as a result of some reshaping of our global resources following the introduction of the ‘one De Beers’ approach we’ve established for our brands,” a De Beers spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

Certain activities that previously happened “in-market,” including trade-event management and product development, will now be managed centrally, the spokesperson added.

“This is essentially a reallocation of where it makes best sense for the business to run certain activities from, and it’s meant a few functions will no longer be served from the US,” the statement continued.

De Beers’ leadership in the US is going through some major changes. Earlier this month, Charles Stanley announced his retirement as president of De Beers’ brands in North America, ending a 20-year career with the company. Céline Assimon, CEO of De Beers Jewellers and De Beers Forevermark, will take over Stanley’s responsibilities on February 1 on an interim basis until De Beers names a permanent replacement.

More recently, De Beers promoted Siobhán Duffy to CEO of Element Six, De Beers’ synthetic-diamond unit. She replaces Walter Huehn, who announced his resignation in December.

Image: A bridal collection on display at De Beers Jewellers in New York. (Ben Perry/Armoury Films/De Beers)