Longtime Industry Journalist Chaim Even-Zohar to Retire

Tel Aviv, Israel--Chaim Even-Zohar, the editor and publisher of Diamond Intelligence Briefings (DIB), and the principal shareholder behind Tacy Ltd. Diamond Industry Consultants, announced his retirement this week in a letter to DIB subscribers.

In it, he recounted beginning his journalism career in the 1970s and admiring Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal.

Even-Zohar said his goal was always to demystify and make transparent the then-secretive diamond industry.

“Back then,” he wrote, “[the industry] was strongly controlled by an, at times, quite ruthless cartel. I saw an opportunity to join a team pioneering a new kind of investigative diamond trade journalism, not dependent on the ‘good will’ of advertisers or easily influenced by vested interests in the diamond community.”

Now, 45 years later, Even-Zohar is relinquishing his role at Tacy Ltd. and DIB, which he wrote he expects to “move to Asia,” as, he said, the rest of the diamond industry has.

The president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, Ernie Blom, released a statement on Even-Zohar’s retirement saying, “I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Chaim Even-Zohar has had a huge impact on the diamond business for the past several decades. His breaking of big news and other work based on exceptional research and contacts made him a hugely important figure in our business right around the globe.

“I have known Chaim for many years, and always found him to be a person of integrity who was determined to get to the very root of stories. He would not be put off by threats, and declined to take advertisers so that he would not need to take commercial interests into account when reporting. The DIB, which so many of have looked forward to receiving every week, will be sorely missed, and Chaim will be missed even more, I am sure. On behalf of the WFDB, I send him best wishes for a long and enjoyable retirement.”

Even-Zohar, who is currently in his 70s, started Diamond Intelligence Briefs in 1984. His company, Tacy Ltd., is responsible for launching several other diamond and jewelry magazines and books, including Mazal U’Bracha Diamond Magazine in 1985, which later was renamed IDEX Magazine.

According to the DIB website, the company also has taken on a consulting role in recent years.

He concluded in his letter to readers: