AB InBev facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV

Type	Public (Société anonyme/Naamloze vennootschap)
Traded as	Euronext Brussels: ABI NYSE: BUD (ADR) BEL 20 component (ABI)
ISIN	BE0974293251 (old BE0003793107)
Industry	Drink, brewing
Predecessors	Anheuser-Busch InBev Ambev SABMiller
Founded	2008; 17 years ago (2008), through InBev acquiring Anheuser-Busch
Headquarters	Leuven , Belgium
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Michel Doukeris (CEO)
Products	Alcoholic beverages: beer and soft drinks
Revenue	US$52.33 billion (2019)
Operating income	US$16.42 billion (2019)
Net income	US$9.17 billion (2019)
Total assets	US$236.65 billion (2019)
Total equity	US$84.55 billion (2019)
Number of employees	approx. 170,000 (End of 2019)
Subsidiaries	Anheuser-Busch InBev (AmBev Interbrew) Grupo Modelo

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, often called AB InBev, is a huge company from Belgium. It makes many kinds of drinks, including many popular brands of beer. It is the largest company of its kind in the world.

AB InBev has its main office in Leuven, Belgium. It also has offices in big cities like New York City, São Paulo, and London. The company owns about 630 different drink brands and sells them in 150 countries.

AB InBev was created when a company called InBev bought an American company named Anheuser-Busch. It is a public company, which means its shares can be bought and sold on stock exchanges around the world.

The Story of AB InBev

How AB InBev Was Formed

Interbrew: A Belgian Beginning

Interbrew was a company formed in 1987. It was created when two of the biggest breweries in Belgium, Artois and Piedboeuf, joined together. The Artois brewery was very old, starting around 1366. The Piedboeuf brewery began in 1812.

After this, Interbrew started buying other breweries outside Belgium. In 1995, they bought Labatt Brewing Company, which was the biggest brewery in Canada. They also expanded into Russia and China.

Interbrew also bought several German breweries, including Beck's & Co. in 2001. For a long time, Interbrew was a family-owned business. But in 2000, it became a public company, and its shares were sold on the stock market.

AmBev: A Brazilian Giant

AmBev is a large Brazilian company that makes drinks. Its name is short for "Beverages Company of the Americas." It was formed in 1999 when two major Brazilian breweries, Antarctica (started in 1880) and Brahma (started in 1886), merged.

AmBev's main office is in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the biggest drink company in Brazil and the Southern Hemisphere. AmBev sells its products in 18 countries across North and South America.

Its products include popular beers like Antarctica and Brahma. They also make soft drinks such as Guaraná Antarctica. AmBev's shares are also traded on stock exchanges in Brazil and New York.

InBev: A New Global Player

In 2004, Interbrew and AmBev decided to merge, creating a new company called InBev. This merger was worth about $11.5 billion. It brought together popular brands from Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Brazil.

Before this merger, Interbrew was the third-largest brewing company in the world, and AmBev was the fifth-largest. By joining forces, they became the world's number one beer maker.

InBev's main business was beer, but it also had a strong presence in the soft drink market in Latin America. The company employed about 86,000 people and had its main office in Leuven, Belgium. In 2007, InBev earned 14.4 billion euros in revenue.

Anheuser-Busch InBev: The World's Largest Brewer

In 2008, InBev bought Anheuser-Busch, an American company. This created Anheuser-Busch InBev, or AB InBev. This made AB InBev the largest brewing company in the world. It also became one of the top five consumer product companies globally.

InBev paid $70 for each share of Anheuser-Busch, totaling $52 billion. Anheuser-Busch started in 1852 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. It was the biggest brewing company in the United States.

Anheuser-Busch was known for beers like Budweiser, Busch, and Michelob. It also made non-alcoholic drinks and flavored malt beverages. Before being bought by InBev, Anheuser-Busch had 12 breweries in the US and 17 overseas.

Major Company Purchases and Sales

Theme Parks

Anheuser-Busch used to own ten theme parks across the United States. In 2009, AB InBev sold its theme park division, called Busch Entertainment, for $2.7 billion. The company had been thinking about selling the parks since the merger.

Cervecería Nacional Dominicana

In 2012, AB InBev bought a 51% share of Cervecería Nacional Dominicana. This company makes beer in the Dominican Republic. It was the largest beer producer in the Caribbean and Central America.

Grupo Modelo

In 2013, AB InBev bought Grupo Modelo, which is Mexico's top brewer. Grupo Modelo owns the famous Corona brand. This deal was worth $20.1 billion. To meet US rules, Grupo Modelo sold its US business to another company, Constellation Brands.

Oriental Brewery

On April 1, 2014, AB InBev bought back Oriental Brewery (OB). AB InBev had sold OB in 2009. OB is the biggest brewer in South Korea. Its CASS brand is the best-selling beer there. All beers from OB are made using rice.

Bud Analytics Lab

In 2013, AB InBev opened its Bud Analytics Lab at the Research Park, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This lab uses data to solve problems. It helps with things like understanding social media trends and market changes.

SABMiller: A Huge Merger

On October 13, 2015, Anheuser-Busch InBev made a very large offer to buy its biggest rival, SABMiller. SABMiller was a company from South Africa. The offer was for £70 billion (about US$107 billion).

If this deal was approved, AB InBev would control one-third of all beer sales worldwide. SABMiller agreed to the deal. However, governments had to approve it to make sure it was fair for competition.

The merger was completed on October 10, 2016. The new company kept the name Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. It is still based in Leuven, Belgium. SABMiller stopped trading on stock markets.

The new AB InBev became the world's largest beer company. It has estimated yearly sales of US$55 billion. It controls about 28 percent of the global market.

As part of the agreement, the former SABMiller sold its MillerCoors business in the US to Molson Coors. Molson Coors also gained rights to other brands like Peroni and Grolsch outside the US. This made Molson Coors the world's third-largest brewer.

After this big merger, AB InBev owned 630 beer brands. These included well-known names like Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, and Stella Artois. The company also has a soft drinks business through its subsidiary, Ambev.

AB InBev also sold some brands to other companies. For example, Peroni, Meantime, and Grolsch were sold to Asahi. In 2016, AB InBev sold SABMiller's businesses in Poland, the Czech Republic, and other Eastern European countries to Asahi Breweries for $7.8 billion.

In 2017, AB InBev formed a partnership with Anadolu Efes. They merged their operations in Russia to create a new company called AB InBev-Efes.

Hiball: Expanding into Energy Drinks

On July 21, 2017, Anheuser-Busch InBev bought Hiball. This company makes energy drinks. This showed AB InBev's continued interest in non-alcoholic beverages.

Company Financial Data

This table shows some of AB InBev's financial information over the years.

Who Runs AB InBev

After the big merger in 2016, AB InBev was run by teams of "functional chiefs" and "zone presidents." These leaders reported to the company's CEO, Carlos Brito. Most of these leaders were already part of AB InBev before the SABMiller purchase.

In July 2021, Carlos Brito stepped down as CEO after 15 years. Michel Doukeris, who used to be the CEO of Anheuser-Busch's North American business, took over as the new CEO.

Who Owns AB InBev

Anheuser-Busch InBev is mainly controlled by a few families from Belgium. These are the Vandamme, de Mévius, and de Spoelberch families. As of 2015, they owned about 28.6% of the company.

Brazilian investors Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira, and Marcel Telles also own a large part of the company. They own about 22.7% through their investment firm, 3G Capital.

See Also

In Spanish: Anheuser-Busch InBev para niños

• AB InBev brands