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10 Things You didn't Know about Anheuser-Busch CEO Carlos Brito

Carlos Brito is the Brazilian businessman who presides over Anheuser-Busch InBev as its CEO. This makes him a figure of incredible importance in the beverage business, seeing as how said corporation is a titan that was the biggest brewer in the entire world even before it bought out SABMiller in 2016. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Carlos Brito:

Born in Rio de Janeiro

Brito was born in Rio de Janeiro, which is a Brazilian city that has a number of claims to fame. For example, it was the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics. However, this wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the fact that Rio de Janeiro is an economic powerhouse in Brazil, not least because it is one of the most populous cities in the whole of the Americas.

Studied At Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Eventually, Brito went on to study at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who can claim without exaggeration to be one of the best schools in the whole of Brazil. There, Brito studied the subject of Mechanical Engineering.

Studied At Stanford University

Later, Brito went on to get a MBA from Stanford University, which is, of course, one of the most famous schools not just in the United States but throughout the world. To be exact, Brito studied at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which offers an elite MBA program that is considered to be on par with a number of other elite MBA programs found throughout the United States.

His Mentor Was Jorge Paulo Lemann

It is interesting to note that Brito's mentor was Jorge Paulo Lemann, who is best-known for being a Brazilian investor. However, it should be mentioned that Lemann has a number of other claims to fame as well, with an excellent example being the fact that he won the national tennis championship for Brazil not once but a total of five times.

Came to His Current Position Through AmBev

Over the course of his career, Brito has worked at other companies, but tends to be most associated with Anheuser-Busch InBev via AmBev. In short, AmBev was a Brazilian corporation that specialized in beverages, which was created as the result of a merger between two previous companies. Later, AmBev was one of the corporations that merged to create InBev, which went on to purchase Anheuser-Busch to become Anheuser-Busch InBev.

He Claims That He Has No Hobbies

Brito has claimed that he has no hobbies whatsoever. Instead, the closest thing that he has to a hobby are his 30-minute workouts on his treadmill. Regardless, Brito's claim can sound rather unbelievable, but he wouldn't be the first person to put so much of his focus into the business that he runs rather than something else.

Sees Potential in Chinese Market

Some businesspeople have become cautious regarding the Chinese market in recent times because of President Donald Trump's trade shenanigans. However, Brito wasn't one of them because as he sees it, the Chinese middle class is still seeing a huge expansion that outstrips the overall rate of growth for the Chinese economy, which in turn, means huge opportunities for businesses that can cater to their needs and desires.

Overseen Much of Expansion in Chinese Market

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brito's Anheuser-Busch InBev controls a huge share of the Chinese market. To be exact, said corporation controls something like 20 percent of the Chinese market, which is colossal in scale because of the sheer size of the Chinese population. Moreover, the corporation has 60 percent of the higher end of the Chinese market, which is critical because the higher end comes with higher profit margins.

Stresses the Importance of the Experience

It is interesting to note that Brito has mentioned the importance of selling an experience as much as selling a product. This is the reason that Brito has gone to a fair amount of effort to pair the brands under his charge with various forms of entertainment, with examples ranging from FIFA to live-streamed music events that are popular in China.

Stresses the Importance of Values

Likewise, Brito has mentioned the importance of values, which can be seen in his corporation's efforts to stress responsible consumption of alcohol. According to Brito, this isn't just important for bringing in customers but also important for bringing in talent who can contribute to the corporation when they believed in its mission.

Written by  Garrett Parker

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AB InBev CEO on Adapting in the Face of Crisis

A conversation with the head of one of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies on responding resiliently to Covid-19.

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Carlos Brito, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev since 2008, has worked to build a culture of adaptability and customer centricity at the global brewer. Many of his leadership principles are paying off during the Covid-19 pandemic, as empowered employees have quickly changed course to respond to the crisis. Brito explains the challenges his company faces in a making beer for social gatherings at a time when people need to stay apart for safety, how the company has shifted operations and supply chains thanks in part to early lessons in markets such as China and South Korea, and how he’s leading strategic efforts to position AB InBev for a new reality.

CURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Curt Nickisch.

There’s a common perception in business that scale slows you down – that it takes a long time to change course of a big ship. Which should be a big disadvantage at a time like now, when a pandemic is forcing businesses everywhere to adapt quickly to new realities; to change course.

But sometimes being a big ship gives you a view that smaller boats just don’t have. Turns out, that can be critical when the waters are really choppy.

Our guest today is the CEO of one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world – Anheuser-Busch InBev, the global brewer of Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, Becks, Castle, Brahma, and hundreds of other beers.

Carlos Brito has been at the head of the company since 2008. And he’s here to talk how he’s leading it through the crisis response and recovery, and why seeing beer sales fall early on in China may have been one of best things to happen to his multinational enterprise.

Brito, thanks for speaking with us.

CARLOS BRITO:  You’re very welcome.  Thanks for having me.

CURT NICKISCH: One thing I didn’t know before prepping for this interview is that the biggest market for Budweiser and Corona beers outside of their home markets is China.  Which was the first place affected by Covid-19, what would become a pandemic.  When did you know that you had a major challenge on your hands?

CARLOS BRITO:  It was interesting you say that, because in January this year, the first thing I did was, I went to China.  I travel a lot to visit our countries, and I went to five different cities.  I was there for a whole week, and the first week of January.  There was no talk of pandemic.  Nobody was aware of it.  Then I came I came back, and ten days later, the whole thing started, and the country got into a lockdown when the Chinese New Year started in the last week of January.

CURT NICKISCH: What did you first encounter, and how did your operations there respond?  Because as Chinese New Year happened, people started staying home, on premise sales in bars, restaurants, stadiums, that kind of thing, that must have dropped off?

CARLOS BRITO:  Well, we saw, for example in China, that consumers went big time even more to ecommerce, that contact-less delivery was the second one that consumers were requiring from companies.

CURT NICKISCH: Because at home consumption was still there.  Right?  And rising, even.

CARLOS BRITO:  Exactly.  Exactly. The occasions migrated to the homes.  So people could not go to stadiums, to venues, to bars, restaurants, pubs.  So all those things, or most of those things, migrated to the in home occasion.  And therefore the sales of our product in supermarkets went up, because now instead of going out for dinner, people are having dinners at home.

So the new occasion, dinners and stuff, became more prevalent at home.  So that also has an implication in our product mix and SKUs and brands that people were buying during the pandemic and the lockdown.  We saw consumers buying more big packs, because consumers are going in and out of grocery stores, they learn to drive a quick trip, in and out, to be less exposed to possible infection, and they also wanted to buy bigger packs so they would have to come back for resupply less often.

So we saw all that in China, and we saw that the same thing would happen if the disease, the virus would become a global phenomenon, which it did.  So when it hit Europe, we were prepared for it.  And then the Americas and Africa.

CURT NICKISCH: That’s so interesting to talk about just one specific operational shift, right, which is changing the size of what consumers actually buy in a store and carry out.  And that is something that often takes a long time to adjust.  Right?  You’re trying to supply the cartons that those go in.  You’re also working with the sales channels, because the size of the shelves might be, may need to be different.

I know that you’re a company that’s famous for acting quickly and responding quickly, and you have a culture for action.  But these are shifts in distribution and sales that often take companies a really long time.  So how did you actually manage that?

CARLOS BRITO:  The most important thing in our company, and we’ve built our company based on those principles in our culture.  Our culture’s all about, I mean, big dreams, hiring the best people up there, but more importantly, creating an environment that they come and stay, and then provide those people an environment where they can, where the ownership mindset, as we call it, will be faster, that people look at the company as their own company, because we are the company.

I also tell my colleagues that myself and 170,000 colleagues around the world, we are aiding in that.  There’s no dark room with the company in there that tells us what to do.  I mean, we are the company.  So if we decide to do something because consumers want, and we follow them, or we predict where they’re going or would go first, that’s where the company’s going.

So this, our culture is one that thrives when urgency and action is required, and we’re never completely satisfied with our results, so we always want more, and always focus on where consumers are going, because that’s where growth is.

CURT NICKISCH: Now, a lot of this quick shifting still costs money.  Right?  At a time when revenue is changing and was dropping overall, even though you had growth in a lot of markets. How do you manage financial agility in such a fast changing time?

CARLOS BRITO:  That’s a very good point.  So when the Covid crisis started, first we told our people what the five priorities were.  First one, safety of our people.  Second one, help the communities, because we’re part of the community.  Third one was to sustain business and continue to operate the business, because communities, most of them, understood that in allowing us to operate, we could do way more than just sell our products.  Even in a place where we could not sell our products, we still helped the community.  The fourth priority was to prepare for a strong recovery.  And the fifth priority was to try to understand more and more insights about what kind of consumer habits would emerge post-Covid, to be prepared again for it.

And there was one more that was an overarching one, which was liquidity.  So when this whole crisis started, in a couple of weeks, we increased our liquidity position.  So now we’re in a very comfortable liquidity position.  So we could then go through the other five priorities, which are more business related.  By having this priority, it’s very clear and helped us, because everybody in the company knew that during Covid priorities were one, two, three, four, five.  And again, given that we’re very action-oriented, that was very important, because when our company wants to show, you know, what the direction is, people really get together and go.

CURT NICKISCH: Let’s talk a little bit about this idea of business continuity.  I’ve heard some places call this “plan and act”.  You have to act in the moment and respond to what’s happening.  But you also have to plan for the new reality that’s coming and the new market. How have you thought about this, trying to respond to the crisis, but also trying to move out of it at a quick pace?

CARLOS BRITO:  First, during the crisis, we were totally focused on helping communities, the safety of our people, and business continuity, as you said.  Then, at the same time, we were planning for a strong recovery.  We said, this is lockdown will end one day.  And then consumers will come back to bars, restaurants, you know, traveling, all those things.  And we need to be prepared for when that moment comes.

And third point, we need to understand and have insights on how consumers’ lives will be different and how they will spend their free time, and how that impacts our business, so we can be prepared for things like e-commerce being more relevant, direct to consumer delivery, contactless delivery being more important, bigger packs, but also social distancing in bars and restaurants and pubs, when they would open.

So for example, we work with pub associations in the city hall of different cities to align with governments and pubs to license during the summer now to go and expand their footprint to sidewalks with tables, to squares, town squares, to pedestrians streets.

And we tried to help with other things.  You know, in bars, they cannot go to the sidewalks.  We’re working in physical separators, like acrylic or plastic that can enable consumers to be closer to each other, but at the same time, separated because of the physical barrier.  So we’re trying to equip also when our customers reopen after being locked down for two months, we’re giving them a reopening kit with masks, hand sanitizers, gowns, gloves, because sometimes in some countries those are hard to find materials.  But because, again, we learned from China, we equipped ourselves, we bought on a global basis all those materials before they became scarce, because we knew it was coming.  And we knew those things would be in short supply.

CURT NICKISCH: And in some cases, you’re making them, too.

CARLOS BRITO:  We’re making them.

CURT NICKISCH: Like sanitizer.

CARLOS BRITO:  That’s exactly right.  We’re making hand sanitizers.  We’re also making face shields, because we have plastic injection equipment for our plastic bottles of soft drinks.  So we turned them to many of those with the plastic face shields.  And also we bought some equipment for mask making, the surgical masks.  Those little masks.  So we’re also manufacturing those now in key regions of our business.

CURT NICKISCH: What have you been really surprised and excited to learn during this time?

CARLOS BRITO:  Well, first, what we learned is that our partnerships and collaboration are essential, have always been, but in a crisis, even more.  So we partner with communities to help in whichever way we could.  Also, we partner with governments.  There is a country in Latin America in which the president of the country went on national TV to talk about the steps that the government was taking to help the community and the citizens, and mentioned our company by name, because we were involved in the logistics of getting medicine and food to more remote areas with our trucks that were idle.

Collaborating with our customers to help them weather the lockdown by, you know, pulling in our social media platforms that reach a lot of consumers, the option they had to support their favorite pub by buying a voucher at a discount in which we matched their dollars one by one.  So, when the pub reopened, they could redeem that for food and drinks.

And the other things that consumers are also more and more interested in what companies and brands are doing for the world around us, so you know, we have a very strong sustainability platform around water, farming, packaging and energy.  And all those things, I think, became even more relevant, like health and wellness.  People said, hey, if I’m healthier, and a pandemic like this hit, I have more of a chance of being more able to fight that thing, you know, that pandemic.

And the same with our world.  I mean, if our world is a better world, in the sense of being more sound environmentally speaking, that can only be good.  You know?  So if the water’s clean and available – for example, think about water. Water’s the first thing to do.  I mean, if you don’t wash your hands, you know, there’s no way you can fight this pandemic.  So, but water’s not available to millions of people around the world.

So one of our pillars of our sustainability goals is all about the water stewardship, so making sure 100% of our communities in high stressed areas will have measurably improved water availability and quality.  And we do the same with circular packaging.  We want our package to be, we want our package to be recycled.  Mostly out of recycled material. And climate action.  We want to purchase electricity to be 100% coming from renewable sources.  And we’re already at 60% only two years into this journey.  You know?  So very proud of that.  And I think consumer will value that more and more.

CURT NICKISCH: What is the uncertainty hard for, you or the company in any way?  I mean, obviously, no one likes uncertainty.  But was there a time when it was too difficult?  Or you weren’t prepared to act quickly?

CARLOS BRITO:  What we do always is that we try to focus on the things we can control, you know, and for the things we cannot control, like I think most companies, we have scenarios and trigger points.  Right?  So we have scenarios, for example, now everybody’s talking about the V-shaped recovery, a U or an L.  So we also have scenarios for different markets, because different markets will recovery at different speeds.  And so we have V, U, L scenarios, and we have clear trigger points that will trigger different action plans.  So you know, for example, if countries start reopening, and bars and restaurants are only 50% back, that triggers a whole set of actions.  If 100% of the restaurants come back, but they are only with 50% occupancy, how can we help them stay in business?  That triggers another set of actions.  So for things we control, we know what to do.  For things we don’t control, we have scenarios and trigger points.

CURT NICKISCH: I’ve heard you talk a lot about bringing consumers together and serving them in their new way of living and the new demands in just their daily routines.  How have you managed that at a company level for your employees?  Certainly in operations you’ve had to limit how people work together, but you also have offices around the world.  And I haven’t heard you mention that that transition’s been very difficult.  Has that been an issue for you?

CARLOS BRITO:  Well, first I mean, our operations were running the whole time in the majority of our markets.  So our supply and logistics people did an amazing job of being able to adopt fuller calls, to be able to operate in a safe way.  And we owe them a big gratitude, because they were committed to our clients, committed to our consumers, committed to our company, and trying to bring some normalcy, so consumers could go to a grocery store and find the brands that they’re used to buying.

You know, so in a very abnormal world, we thought our role was to bring some normalcy by having our brands available in the channels that consumers were shopping, so they could feel a little bit like they could still access things that they like and that were important for them.  So I think that was a big part of it.

In our offices, we, a lot of our offices around the world have already reopened.  Not all.  And where we opened again, from the learnings we had from China, in a phased approach, with sanitation, with separation, social distancing, with fewer people.  So doing like shifts. So sometimes different functions will come to the offices.  Some other times other functions will come to the office.

So again, the safety of our people is number one.  And one thing we were surprised at, is that with technology, we’re able to work at home during the lockdown in a very efficient way.  Of course, it doesn’t replace the office interactions, but I think like everybody else, we’re all very surprised to see how technology was able to bridge the lack of physical presence, and we were able to be in touch with our people to do town halls, also help people because some people were, you know, becoming depressed sometimes, or becoming fearful of what was next.

So we also put a lot of services in which people could access in terms of, you know, mental support, because some people sometimes lived in, were not in their, there were expats living in different countries, and they were locked down.  They didn’t know exactly what to do.  They were beginning to feel a bit fearful about what was next.  And we tried to support our people the best way we could, and technology was a big part of that.

CURT NICKISCH: What have you been learning now from this experience that tells you what that post-Covid world is going to look like?

CARLOS BRITO:  I think first, it’s important to say that we’ve conducted consumer research during the lockdowns.  And it’s amazing to see that around the world, if you ask consumers what do you intend to do once the lockdown is over, the answers are very similar.  Everybody wants to see friends and family, be physically with them.  Everybody wants to go to restaurants, pubs and bars, their, you know, preferred places to go and have the experiences they so much miss.

Everybody wants to go back to traveling, to get to know new places.  Everybody wants to go back to venues, to sports, music, culture.  And this is what we do as a business.  Our business is to be there with our consumers in all those things.  So we think consumers are going to go back to some of their pre-Covid habits.  Of course, they’re going to be more careful.

And we’re trying to help our pubs and restaurants to open in a safe way.  We think it will be some time before customers go to a live concert where everybody’s packed in a stadium or to sports where everybody’s very close to each other in the bleachers.  Maybe it will take some time for travel to be 100% as it was pre Covid because again, some people that are more at risk will avoid planes and hotels and airports.

But on the other hand, people want to have their lives back.  We will not, we’re social animals.  We need to be together with other people.  We need the physical contact.  We need to go to that bar that we love, to eat that food that we love.  You cannot eat the same thing every day at home.  We need to travel.  You know, everybody’s tired of eating the same thing, you know, because we can only cook two or three things.  And we need to travel, to get to know different people, different places.

So I think the human beings, the genetic make up of the human being, the way we are wired, will prevail.  And consumers will go back to things we all love to do.  But depending on which group you are, those that will be faster, or those that will be more cautious and will be more of a delayed comeback, until there is a vaccine or a treatment that people can rely on, people will continue to be more cautious.  But what we see is that consumers want to go back to their normal lives, and go back to the things they love.  And that’s where our business thrives, when they go back to things they love, because that’s where our products interact with our consumers.

CURT NICKISCH: As a leader, how do you model behavior for the teams at the company?

CARLOS BRITO:  Well, a couple of things.  First, I mean, the way to spread our culture is by personal example.  You have to do what you say.  You have to live the culture that you ask other people to live by.  So, our culture is very simple.  Our people are our greatest assets.  We also foster this idea of ownership, so people are empowered to run the company as their own company.

CURT NICKISCH: Is that hard for you sometimes? There must be a part of you that wants to jump in and advise a decision, or recommend a decision, or help in some way.

CARLOS BRITO:  I mean, we do talk a lot.  I mean, being in touch with others is part of our culture as well.  So we do talk a lot.  So, if somebody wants to pick somebody else’s brain, it’s totally OK.  So if somebody wants to call me and say, Brito, we’re thinking about building a hospital with two other companies in Brazil, and in other countries around America, what do you think about it?  It’s going to require this much people involvement, this much money.  But it’s something the community is, that they need.  I’ll say, well, that’s your decision.  Go do it.  I agree.  I think it’s a good decision.

But again, the guy didn’t ask me for permission.  He was just picking my mind on if there was a different angle to help the community, or if I had learned from some other country in our footprint something new that could be applied there.  But if it’s something that I have nothing to add to, or you know, it’s his or her decision to do it.

The other thing is that we take no shortcuts.  So, we’ve been in business since 1366.  1366.  So since the 14 th century, more than 600 years in business.  We intend to be another 600 years in business.  And when you have that kind of idea that you want to be in business forever, you have to understand that at times you have to forget your P&L, you have to forget other metrics, and do what’s needed, because it’s a crisis.  And this crisis will only come every 100 years, we hope.  But when it comes, everybody is in a tight spot.  And if you have something you can do to help, our people first, but then the community, then our customers, and then our consumers, we should do it.

CURT NICKISCH: Brito, this has been really great to hear what you’ve done.  Thanks for coming on the show to talk about it.

CARLOS BRITO:  Well, thank you for having me.  And have a great day.

CURT NICKISCH: That’s Carlos Brito. He’s the CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev. This episode was produced by Mary Dooe. We get technical help from Rob Eckhardt. Adam Buchholz is our audio product manager.

Thanks for listening to the HBR IdeaCast . I’m Curt Nickisch.

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AB InBev 'architect' Brito to hand over to North America boss

• New CEO previously global sales chief, Asia boss.
• Q1 core profit (EBITDA) up 14.2% vs consensus 6.6%.
• Sees 2021 EBITDA rising by 8-12%, revenue by more.

In this article

Carlos Brito, who built Anheuser-Busch InBev into the world's biggest brewer during 15 years at the helm, will step down as CEO in July to be replaced by the group's North America boss as it shifts focus from acquisitions to boosting sales.

The brewer of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois lagers said on Thursday its board had unanimously elected Michel Doukeris, the former head of sales, to succeed fellow Brazilian Brito, from July 1.

Chairman Martin Barrington said Doukeris' expertise in brands, consumers and innovation meant the 48-year-old was ideally suited for the company's next phase.

That phase could be more focused on boosting sales of over 500 brands than on acquisitions in an already concentrated brewing market.

"This should not come as a shock to investors.... Michel was the clear lead internal candidate," said Trevor Stirling, beverage analyst at Bernstein Securities, adding Doukeris had an impressive track record, notably in China and Asia-Pacific.

AB InBev shares rose around 4% in early trading.

Brito, 61 today, arrived when the brewer was called InBev, the result of a 2004 merger between Belgium's Interbrew and Brazil's AmBev, which he headed.

During his tenure, the company took over Anheuser-Busch in 2008, added Mexico's Grupo Modelo and in 2016 spent over $100 billion on SABMiller, then the world's second largest brewer.

The acquisition brought more Latin American markets and saw it enter Africa for the first time.

However, the purchase also saw AB InBev's net debt jump to $82.7 billion as of the end of 2020, some 4.8 times core earnings (EBITDA).

Its share are now less than half their late 2015 peak, with craft beer eating into its U.S. sales and difficulties in Brazil and South Africa.

"Brito was the architect who led and built AB InBev into the world's leading beer company and a leading global consumer packaged goods company by masterfully integrating the many businesses that comprise AB InBev today," Barrington said.

Strong rebound at start of 2021    

The company separately reported first-quarter earnings ahead of expectations, even with lockdowns closing hospitality in much of Europe and a one-month alcohol sales ban in South Africa.

Sales of beer surged 64% in Asia-Pacific, a year on from the initial coronavirus lockdown in China, a major AB InBev market.

They rose by more than 10% in Latin America, outperforming industry growth in two of its top markets, Brazil and Mexico. In Europe, sales of its own beers were flat. 

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 14.2% on a like-for-like basis and removing the impact of currency translation to $4.27 billion, beating the 6.6% average forecast in a company-compiled poll.

This figure should increase by between 8% and 12% in 2021, with revenue growth greater than that, based on higher beer sales, price hikes and a shift in consumer taste to premium brands, AB InBev said.

Solving the right problems: Carlos Brito on this week's Meet the Leader Podcast

Carlos Brito, Chief Executive of Anheuser-Busch InBev, taps a Stella Artois beer after a news conference in Leuven, Belgium March 1, 2018. Image:  REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

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• Subscribe to Meet the Leader on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
• This fortnightly podcast from the World Economic Forum features the world’s top changemakers, showcasing the habits and traits effective leaders can’t work without.
• Carlos Brito, CEO of AB InBev shares how the company is leveraging tools like blockchain and fintech to solve key problems for its networks of farmers and retailers around the globe.

Beverage giant AB InBev is the largest brewer in the world and known for big brands like Corona and Budweiser. And while parts of its company have roots stretching back to the days Belgian monks brewed Abbey beer, the company has been steadily investing in key technologies to strengthen networks of farmers and retailers all over the world.

Bringing tech like high-precision weather data to small holder farmers in developing nations has its challenges. Many, for instance, use flip phones, not smart phones. As a result, the company developed a solution to leverage SMS text and the technology their farmers had in their hands to ensure they could farm as efficiently as possible.

Solving the right problem in any situation is key, CEO Carlos Brito told Meet the Leader. This requires active listening and ensuring you're providing the solution that your final customer needs and not the one you think they'll want most. In this case, a solution built for smart phones, without any knowledge of what was needed on the ground, could have only used by 10% of the farmers and "that would have been frustrating for everyone."

"The worst thing in the world," he said, "is to have a solution in search of a problem."

Brito explains how the company has invested in other technologies as well, including blockchain and fintech, to ensure that retailers and farmers in countries around the world could be more financially resilient. Such investments are strengthening communities in developing countries around the world and were a key advantage during the pandemic.

He discusses all this - as well as how anyone can ensure they're having more effective meetings and discussions - in this week's Meet the Leader , a fortnightly podcast hosted by Linda Lacina diving into the habits and qualities leaders depend on the most.

Listen to Meet The Leader's sister podcasts World Vs Virus , about the global pandemic, House On Fire , our 10-part environmental series, and The Great Reset , on the efforts to 'build back better'.

Have you read?

Deloitte's punit renjen: 'the future is not pre-ordained', effective leaders 'rise to the occasion': the carlyle group's david rubenstein, 'you can't do business in a broken world' - this week's meet the leader podcast.

A book he recommends: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't , Jim Collins. This book uses data and one-of-a-kind analysis to discover why some companies thrive and others fail. Brito says one particular line in the book stands out: "First who, then what". Said Brito, the line is a key reminder that your team is what makes your company and that having the right people tackling the right projects can be very powerful.

A habit he can't work without: Active listening. A great meeting, to Brito, means agreement doesn't come in quickly, in two or three minutes. He also encourages constructive disagreement and coming back to a conversation with feedback once you've learned more.

Diversity of thought is critical said Brito. "That's why groups tend to perform better, especially with tough issues. If you have diversity of thought people expose different opinions and from those different opinions, you get to a better place, a better solution."

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Brazil: AB InBev boss Carlos Brito takes home EUR 95 million

Carlos Brito , departing CEO of AB InBev who is leaving the company at the end of this month ( inside.beer, 6.5.2021 ) can take home around EUR 95 million from earlier salary commitments and stock options that he was granted by his employer more than 10 years ago. This is the result of a study by the remuneration consultancy hkp on the salaries of top European managers, which analyzed the annual reports of major European companies.

The majority of Carlos Brito's earnings result from stock option programs from 2008 and 2009 that Brito took advantage of last year when he purchased almost 1.5 million shares at a price of around 10 euros and another 960,000 shares at a price of around 33 euros. Since no date on which the stock options were exercised is specified in the annual report itself, the stock price of around EUR 57 at the end of the 2020 financial year was assumed for the estimate.

Last year, Brito’s salary was significantly lower than the year’s before because of AB InBev’s weak performance in the course of the COVID-19 crisis and the high level of debt following the SAB Miller acquisition in 2016. Brito received only EUR 1.2 million in 2020 which placed him at the lower end of the companies listed in the STOXX share indices. The case is an example of how big the discrepancy can be between the remuneration granted and the remuneration actually received for managers.

Brito has not yet announced what he would like to do after working more than three decades for the world largest brewing group which he helped shaping himself from the very beginnings when he joined AmBev in Brazil in 1989. It should be clear, however, that a manager like him will not simply retire.

“In the last few weeks a lot of people have called me with suggestions and suggestions. I wrote them all down, but I didn't make up my mind,” Brito told Brazilian business news Exame . “My father, a doctor in Brazil, is 89 years old and worked in his medical office until he was 86. I'm 61 and now I'm thinking about the next 25 years,” he added.

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Carlos Brito to succeed Gary Lubner as CEO of Belron

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• Full press release
• Carlos Brito biography

D’Ieteren Group today announces the appointment of Carlos Brito as Chief Executive Officer at Belron Group.

He will join the company in January and take over as CEO in March 2023, following a handover period. Gary Lubner, who has been Belron CEO since 2000, will remain on the Board of Belron Group following the handover.

Carlos Brito is one of the world’s top business leaders. He has vast experience, including running AB InBev, a global business of over 164,000 people and an outstanding track record of creating value for stakeholders and developing leaders. He built AB InBev from a regional player into by far the world’s largest brewing company, making it one of the top consumer packaged goods companies in the world and one of the highest by profitability. Execution-oriented and with a strong focus on people, Carlos Brito fits perfectly within the Belron culture and has all the required skills to lead Belron in the next phase of its development as a sustainable and responsible business.

Since Gary Lubner took over as CEO in 2000, Belron has grown consistently through geographic expansion, market share gains and value accretive acquisitions, as well as investing in new technology and innovation, thus transforming the company into a global leader in vehicle glass repair, replacement and recalibration and positioning the group for a promising future.

Nicolas D’Ieteren, Chairman of D’Ieteren Group and Belron, said : “I am very happy to welcome Carlos Brito to Belron. He is one of the foremost business leaders of his generation and his appointment reflects the amazing job Gary Lubner and his team have done to develop Belron over the past 22 years. His arrival demonstrates the energy and the excitement we all feel about the opportunities that lie ahead for the Group’s future. We are confident that Carlos Brito is the right leader at the right time to continue building on our tremendous success and write the next Belron chapter.”

“I would like to thank Gary personally and on behalf of the Board of Directors for his huge contribution to the successful development of the company as its CEO for more than 22 years. We are also delighted to keep Gary as a Belron Board member and we look forward to benefitting from his enormous experience about the business. Dear Gary, as we say in French – Bravo et Merci.”

Current Belron CEO Gary Lubner said : “I’m delighted to hand over the stewardship of this exceptional company to Carlos Brito. He is the right CEO to take Belron forward, bringing with him an unrivalled track record of growing businesses and operating at the highest level. It is testament to our business, brands, people and investors that we have attracted one of the world’s most successful chief executives to lead Belron into the next phase of its development.”

“His deep interest in every aspect of our business is striking, and I know that our values-led culture is a priority for him as he seeks to grow the business. On behalf of my 30,000 colleagues around the world, I would like to offer him a warm welcome to the company.”

Carlos Brito said : “Belron is a unique business with a clear pathway to sustainable and responsible growth at an important stage in its development. This is exactly the opportunity I have been waiting for and I very much look forward to getting to know the business better and to meeting my new colleagues.”

Group profile

In existence since 1805, and across family generations, D’Ieteren Group seeks growth and value creation by pursuing a strategy on the long term for its businesses and actively encouraging and supporting them to develop their position in their industry and geographies. The Group currently owns the following businesses:

• Belron (50.01%) has a clear purpose: “making a difference by solving people’s problems with real care”. It is the worldwide leader in vehicle glass repair and replacement and operates in 37 countries, through wholly owned businesses and franchises, with market leading brands – including Carglass®, Safelite® and Autoglass®. In addition, Belron manages vehicle glass and other insurance claims on behalf of insurance customers. Sales and adjusted operating result reached respectively €4,647m and €815m in FY-21.
• D'Ieteren Automotive (100%) distributes Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Cupra, Rimac and Porsche vehicles in Belgium. It has a market share of more than 23% and 1.2 million vehicles on the road. Its business model is evolving towards “improving the lives of citizens with fluid, accessible and sustainable mobility”. Sales and adjusted operating result reached respectively €3,239m and €103m in FY-21.
• PHE (91%) is a leader in the independent distribution of spare parts for vehicles in Western Europe, present in France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxemburg, Italy and Spain. Its mission aims at “promoting affordable and sustainable mobility”. It generated sales of €2.0bn and EBITDA of €246m in FY-21.
• TVH Parts (40%), is a leading global independent distributor for aftermarket parts for material handling, construction & industrial, and agricultural equipment. It operates in 26 countries worldwide. It has a unique operating model and has a clear purpose of “keeping customers going and growing”.
• Moleskine (100%) is a premium and aspirational lifestyle brand which develops and sells iconic branded notebooks and writing, travel and reading accessories through a global multichannel platform. Its purpose is to “unleash the human genius through hands on paper to empower creativity and knowledge in each individual and the entire world”. Sales and adjusted operating result reached respectively €122m and €12m in FY-21.
• D’Ieteren Immo (100%) groups together the Belgian real estate interests of D’Ieteren Group. It owns and manages 37 sites which generated €21.7m net rental income in FY-21. It also pursues investment projects and carries out studies into possible site renovations.

Francis Deprez, Chief Executive Officer Arnaud Laviolette, Chief Financial Officer

Stéphanie Voisin, Investor Relations - Tel: + 32 (0)2 536.54.39 Anne-Catherine Zoller, Press Relations - Tel: +32 (0)2 536.55.65

E-mail: [email protected] – Website: www.dieterengroup.com

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AB InBev CEO Carlos Brito remains optimistic despite market challenges

Anheuser-busch inbev’s growing influence has revolutionised the international beer market. today, even as the company lumbers under its own debts, the dreams of ceo carlos brito remain undimmed.

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Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) was formed as the result of one major merger after another: in 1999, mid-sized Brazilian brewer Brahma acquired local rival Antarctica to form Companhia de Bebidas das Américas (AmBev).

Then, in 2004, the company rebranded as InBev after it merged with the Belgian brewing giant Interbrew. Just four years later, InBev combined with US brewer and Budweiser-maker Anheuser-Busch in a $52bn (€45.3bn) deal – AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer, was born.

This did not signal the end of AB InBev’s mergers and acquisitions (M&As), though: in 2016, the Belgium-based powerhouse decided to gobble up SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer, in a €92bn deal that became known as ‘Megabrew’ by industry commentators.

Today, AB InBev owns seven of the 10 most valuable beer brands in the world. One man has been at the centre of this flurry of market activity: CEO Carlos Brito, who started his career as an ambitious sales manager at Brahma in the late 1980s.

On the hop Brito found his way into the drinks industry through Jorge Paulo Lemann, a partner at Brazilian investment bank Banco Garantia and the future founder of 3G Capital. At first, Lemann’s scholarship programme simply helped Brito through his education at Stanford University. But after graduating with an MBA, Brito reunited with his benefactor at Brahma, a brewer Lemann had just bought with two partners for $50m (€43.6m).

AB InBev employees are not valued on seniority, but rather on the potential they offer the company and their inherent traits

At Brahma, Brito displayed his strong business acumen, boasting a keen eye for deals and a laser-like focus. Following the 1999 merger that created AmBev, Brito quickly ascended to the top; soon after AmBev’s tie-up with Interbrew, he was named as CEO of InBev at 45 years of age.

One of Brito’s most distinctive skills is cost cutting. Following a flurry of big deals, he developed a knack for quickly trimming costs and boosting margins. Eddy Hargreaves, a consumer equities analyst at South-Africa-based asset manager Investec, said Brito’s success in taking a regional, Latin American brewer and expanding it across the globe was achieved with the help of “disciplined operational methods, such as the early adoption of zero-based budgeting to control costs tightly”.

At AB InBev, Brito has fuelled a culture of transparency, with executives sitting in central, open desks instead of in private offices. Some have likened the dynamic to that of a start-up. While Brito embodies this open management style with his choice of clothing – his typical office attire comprises jeans and a Budweiser-branded shirt – and his hands-on approach, it would be wrong to suggest he doesn’t run a tight ship.

AB InBev employees are not valued on seniority, but rather on the potential they offer the company and their inherent traits, such as curiosity and the ability to move out of one’s comfort zone. The high-pressure working environment sees young, ambitious staffers evaluated constantly; Brito makes it clear that anyone who does not meet his expectations will not remain in the company for long. In fact, according to a report by the Financial Times , outsiders have said AB InBev trainees are “brainwashed” by the company.

Devotion to the brand is non-negotiable. Brito wants everyone in the company to be as dedicated as he is – he has admitted to having no hobbies outside of the business and his family, barring a daily 30-minute run on the treadmill. In a company press release around the time of the Megabrew deal, Brito said: “People thrive in a culture based on ownership, meritocracy and informality. It’s not just a job – it has to be a passion. That is a crucial mindset. It’s also one of our selection criteria. You could compare our employees with top athletes: the dream is big, talent is scarce, selection is strict [and] sacrifices are plentiful. But all of that ultimately makes the difference.”

An unquenchable thirst Despite his no-nonsense management style, Brito is not without charm. His warm personality has likely been an asset in his impressive track record for making deals. “Brito’s strong negotiation skills are often overlooked,” Hargreaves told European CEO . “But his ability over the years to persuade diverse owners to sell to him has been truly extraordinary.”

Through these deals, Brito has transformed the beer industry from a fragmented and disjointed market into one of consolidation, dominated by a handful of owners. According to Hargreaves, the scale of major M&A deals Brito has executed over the past 20 years is “unparalleled across the entire consumer staples industry”.

Carlos Brito has transformed the beer industry from a fragmented and disjointed market into one of consolidation, dominated by a handful of owners

Even after the tie-up with Anheuser-Busch, Brito’s thirst for expansion went unquenched. In 2011, the firm bought Chicago-based craft brewer Goose Island; a year later, the company took a majority stake in the Dominican Republic’s Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana for $1.2bn (€1.05bn). In 2013, AB InBev purchased Mexico’s Grupo Modelo for $20bn (€17.5bn).

Speaking to the Financial Times , an unnamed AB InBev advisor likened Brito and his team to sharks: “They can’t stop moving. It’s just not in their nature. M&A is in their blood.” But Megabrew was a turning point: since the announcement of the deal in 2015, AB InBev’s shares have halved from a peak of around €122.50. M&A has taken a backseat as executives focus on stabilising the business, with the $100bn-plus (€87.4bn) debt that AB InBev racked up in order to buy SABMiller starting to weigh heavily on investors’ minds.

While the deal gave AB InBev a truly global footprint with operations in nearly every important beer market, the anticipated increase in volume that was to result from SAB’s presence in the high-growth Africa region took longer to materialise than expected. At the same time, macroeconomic weaknesses in emerging markets, where 72 percent of AB InBev’s volume is sold, has heaped pressure on the company.

Trouble brewing Last year alone, AB InBev’s share price slid almost 40 percent as it worked to put out fires on numerous fronts. The company has seen increased competition in a variety of markets, including China and South Africa. But in Hargreaves’ view, competition with like-minded rivals is “healthy” and is nothing new for Brito: “AB InBev has grown for many years in several countries where the beer market is extremely competitive.”

What is more worrying is the rising popularity of craft beer, wine and spirits: in the US market, which accounts for approximately 30 percent of AB InBev’s profits, consumer tastes have been moving from beer to wine and spirits since around 2000. In the first nine months of 2018, the company’s North American beer volume fell by three percent. Further, younger, health-conscious generations are slowly turning away from alcohol altogether.

Younger, health-conscious generations are slowly turning away from alcohol altogether

In December 2018, the Beer Purchasers’ Index – an informal metric that gives distributors an indication of purchasing activity – dropped to a measure of 47 from 55 in the previous year. At a time when more consumers are interested in craft beers, AB InBev’s portfolio skews to the weakest sub-segment in the US market: mainstream, light lager. According to Hargreaves, niche competitors like craft brewers present an “ongoing challenge” for AB InBev.

Competition could also emerge from a new area: marijuana. Some market commentators have suggested falling beer sales could be attributed to the US’ growing cannabis market. Although the number of states to have legalised recreational cannabis remains low, the industry is expected to boom in the coming years, with a 2017 report by Arcview Market Research suggesting the North American market could grow at a compound annual rate of nearly 25 percent between 2017 and 2025.

Speaking to CNBC earlier this year, Brito said his company did not have any data to suggest the growing cannabis market would hurt beer sales. In December 2018, however, AB InBev proved it was looking to get into the market itself, forging a $100m (€87.4m) joint venture with cannabis firm Tilray to study cannabis-based beverages.

The study will assess the viability of using both THC, the psychoactive chemical compound of marijuana, and CBD, the non-active chemical, in non-alcoholic drinks. According to Arcview, the North American edibles market – including drinks infused with cannabis – is expected to surpass $4.1bn (€3.6bn) by 2022.

The next round These competitive pressures have only been exacerbated by AB InBev’s staggering debt pile. After its credit rating was cut by Moody’s in late 2018, the company began to take measures to rebalance its remaining debt – first by slashing its dividend in half, and then by refinancing $16.5bn (€14.4bn) of its debt in January 2019.

Not everyone is worried about the global brewer, however. Following these moves, RBC Capital Markets upgraded AB InBev’s stock. Speaking of the change, RBC analyst James Edwardes Jones said : “The dangers of AB InBev’s indebtedness have been overstated.” Jones also revealed he had hiked his 2019 and 2020 earnings-per-share estimates for the company, claiming AB InBev’s level of debt is “comfortably under control”.

To reduce its debt pile further, AB InBev is reportedly considering listing its Asian operations. Hargreaves said this option was likely just one of many initiatives the management team was considering, which is “consistent with its track record of creative thinking around the structure of its business”. Were such a move to materialise, Hargreaves believes it would be significant, placing a clear value on the company’s Asian operations and demonstrating the current undervaluation of the remaining business.

The Asian beer market is one of the most exciting for brewers at the moment, with volumes growing rapidly in countries such as China, India and Vietnam. Crucially, listing its Asian unit would afford AB InBev more financial flexibility, allowing it to line up new M&A deals – both in Asia and elsewhere.

In an interview with the Financial Times , Brito himself admitted that AB InBev had fallen on hard times: “There has been a change in mood among investors on emerging markets and companies that have high debt.” But he remained optimistic about the company’s future: “We continue to be very confident in our footprint, brands and our people.”

Whatever happens moving forward, Hargreaves believes Brito remains the CEO for whom he has developed the “strongest respect and greatest admiration” among all of the consumer companies he has studied over the past 25 years. “Not only are his achievements immense, but he has retained the common touch, able and willing to speak to everyone from [the] shop floor [upwards],” Hargreaves said.

Much of AB InBev’s success can be attributed to Brito and the path he has forged for the brewing giant – one that applauds curiosity and risk-taking. In place of a mission statement or a set of values, Brito often speaks about the “dream” championed by AB InBev: bringing people together for a better world. Brito’s own vision has seen AB InBev grow into the world’s biggest brewer, selling one in every four beers globally. While there are almost certainly going to be tough times ahead for the company, Brito is unlikely to see his dream falter, or his glass become half empty.

Contributors

• Industry Outlook

Announcement of new Belron® Group CEO

Following an extremely successful two decades under gary lubner, belron announces the appointment of carlos brito as its new chief executive officer.

The Board of Belron Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Carlos Brito as our new CEO. Brito will join the company in January and take over as CEO in March 2023, following a handover period.

Brito is one of the world’s top business leaders. He has vast experience, including running AB InBev, a global business of over 164,000 people and an outstanding track record of creating value for shareholders and developing leaders. He built AB InBev from a Latin American regional player into by far the world’s largest brewing company, with brands including Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois, making it one of the top consumer packaged goods companies in the world and one of the highest by profitability.

Current CEO Gary Lubner said: “I’m delighted to hand over the stewardship of this exceptional company to Brito. He is the right CEO to take Belron forward, bringing with him an unrivalled track record of growing businesses and operating at the highest level. It is testament to our business, brands, people and investors that we have attracted one of the world’s most successful chief executives to lead Belron into the next phase of its development.

“His deep interest in every aspect of our business is striking, and I know that our values-led culture is a priority for him as he seeks to grow the business. On behalf of my 30,000 colleagues around the world, I would like to offer him a warm welcome to the company.”

Gary will remain on the Board of Belron following the hand over.

Brito said: “Belron is a unique business with a clear pathway to sustainable and responsible growth at an important stage in its development. This is exactly the opportunity I have been looking for and I very much look forward to getting to know the business better and to meeting my new colleagues.”

Nicolas D’Ieteren, Chairman of Belron’s majority shareholder the D’Ieteren Group and Chairman of the Belron Group Board, said: “I am very happy to welcome Carlos Brito to Belron. He is one of the foremost business leaders of his generation and his appointment reflects the amazing job Gary Lubner and his team have done to develop Belron over the past 22 years. His arrival demonstrates the energy and the excitement we all feel about the opportunities that lie ahead for the Group’s future. We are confident that Carlos Brito is the right leader at the right time to continue building on our tremendous success and write the next Belron chapter.

“I would like to thank Gary personally and on behalf of the Board of Directors for his huge contribution to the successful development of the company as its CEO for more than 22 years. We are also delighted to keep Gary as a Belron Board member and we are looking forward to benefit from his enormous experience about the business. Dear Gary, as we say in French – Bravo et Merci .”

During Gary’s 22 years as CEO, Belron sales have grown consistently from €822m in 2000 to more than €4.6bn in 2021, through geographic expansion into new territories, growing market share and value accretive acquisitions.  The business was most recently valued at €21bn in a transaction in 2021. Gary has also overseen investment in new technology and innovation leveraging the increasing complexity of vehicles and driver assistance systems, positioning the Group for further growth.

Notes to editors

Carlos Brito career history  

Carlos Brito, 62, spent 32 years at AB InBev and was CEO from 2005 until 2021. During his 15 years as CEO, he transformed AB InBev into the world’s largest brewer, with a portfolio of brands including Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois. During his tenure, Brito grew the market capitalisation of AB InBev from $26bn in 2005 to $141bn in 2020. He has a strong commitment to investing in people, environmental stewardship and doing business responsibly. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brito has lived in Brazil, Germany, Canada, Belgium and the US and will now be based in the UK. Brito earned his degree in mechanical engineering from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and obtained an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is a member of the Stanford GSB Advisory Council and a member of the Reditus Board of Directors, a private endowment that supports students and alumnae from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Brito worked for Shell Oil and Daimler-Benz, prior to joining Ambev in 1989.

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International Edition

The world's largest brewer, which produces Corona and Budweiser, is about to get even bigger. Meet AB InBev's famously private CEO, who has only one hobby and doesn't like company perks.

• Carlos Brito is the CEO of the brewery group Anheuser-Busch InBev, which produces popular beers like Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, and Stella Artois.
• AB InBev announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Kona Brewing Co. parent Craft Brew Alliance, according to the Wall Street Journal .
• Brito convinced former Brazil tennis star Jorge Paulo Lemann to fund his time at Stanford, according to the Financial Times .
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The world's largest brewer is about to get even bigger.

The brewery titan Anheuser-Busch InBev is said to be acquiring Craft Brew Alliance, according to the Wall Street Journal . The deal will add Kona Brewing Co., Omission Brewing Co., Redhook Brewery and Cisco Brewers., into AB InBev's already extensive portfolio of beers.

Despite the ubiquity of the company, AB InBev's Brazilian-born CEO is known to be extremely private. Keep reading to take a look into the life of Carlos Brito.

Carlos Alves De Brito, 59, was born in Brazil. He has said he uses his heritage to guide his business decisions.

Brito has cited Brazil's business culture as a reason for AB InBev's success, according to the BBC .

The Brazil-based InBev leadership team was known for its tendency to implement sharp cost-cutting measures without hesitation, the BBC reported. According to the Financial Times , Brito showed up at Anheuser-Busch's St. Louis headquarters to start making changes just 24 hours after its acquisition by InBev was announced.

Brito now lives in New York, according to Fortune .

Brito has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Brito earned a bachelor's degree from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, according to Bloomberg . Before getting his master's at Stanford, he was an executive at Shell. Brito persuaded the former Brazil tennis star   Jorge Paulo Lemann to fund his time at Stanford, according to the Financial Times .

He has since returned to Stanford to speak with MBA students, NBC News reported.

Brito is a private person.

The AB InBev leader rarely gives interviews, and not much is known about his personal life.

NBC News reported that the company even declined to confirm that Brito was married and had four children, saying "We don't give details on his private life."

Brito doesn't have a lot of hobbies.

"My life is the company and my family," Brito told the Financial Times .

He also said his only pastime was taking a daily 30-minute walk on a treadmill.

Most of his time is dedicated to Anheuser-Busch InBev, which he has run since 2008.

Brito first came to AmBev in 1989 and worked in finance, operations, and sales before becoming its chief executive in 2004.

InBev was formed in 2004, and Brito became the CEO of the company in 2005. In 2008,   InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch , and Brito became the CEO of the larger group, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Brito was paid 1.48 million euros, or $1.6 million, by AB InBev in 2017, according to the Financial Times , in addition to his ownership of an options grant that was worth 250 million euros, or about $469 million in today's dollars, at the time.

Brito isn't a fan of company perks, including free beer.

Brito doesn't use a company car to get around or have a dedicated desk at AB InBev's headquarters, NBC News reported. According to the Financial Times , he asks to be called "Brito," not "Mr. Brito."

He doesn't even take advantage of one of the more basic perks of running the world's largest brewer: free beer.

"I don't want the company to give me free beer," Brito told Stanford MBA students in 2008, according to NBC News . "I can buy my own beer."

Brito is known for his tough management style.

Brito asks that all employees' performance be monitored constantly and formally reviewed each year, according to the Financial Times . He reportedly doesn't hesitate to let go of employees who aren't up to par if they don't improve in six to nine months.

"Great people attract more great people," Brito said, according to the BBC . "That's obvious, but the opposite is even more dangerous. Mediocre people attract more of the same."

AB InBev hasn't always flourished under Brito's leadership.

Brito and CFO Felipe Dutra lost their annual bonuses in 2017 after the brewer saw its first decline in core earnings since its formation, according to the St. Louis Business Journal .

Even so, AB InBev calls itself the world's largest brewer.

AB InBev makes Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, Stella Artois, and numerous other beers, according to its website .

The company held the world's second-largest IPO of 2019 in Hong Kong on September 23, raising $5 billion in a single day, Reuters reported. Only Uber's May IPO was worth more.

Now, it's getting even bigger. The company announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Kona Brewing Co. parent Craft Brew Alliance, according to the Wall Street Journal.

AB InBev already owns 31.2% of Craft Brew, and will close its $321 million purchase of the rest of the company in fiscal year 2020, the Journal reported.

The move comes at a time when the company's beer sales by volume in the US are seeing a decline . Part of that can be attributed, as Business Insider's Kate Taylor previously reported , to millennials' shifting interests: They are simply not drinking as much beer as past generations did.

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