Carlos Alves de Brito (born 1960) is a Brazilian businessman who was CEO of

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters ...

from 2008 to 2021.

Early life and education

Born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Carlos Alves Brito, a Brazilian citizen, holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the ...

, and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Stanford Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business schoo ...

. Brito has described

Jorge Paulo Lemann Jorge Paulo Lemann (born August 26, 1939) is a Brazilian billionaire investment banker and businessman with dual Brazilian and Swiss citizenship. Early life In 1939, Lemann was born in Rio de Janeiro to Paul Lemann, a Swiss immigrant who founde ...

as a mentor.

Career

Brito was named on

Barron's Barron's or Barrons may refer to: *Barron's Educational Series, a publisher of books, as well as college entrance exam preparation classes and materials, now an imprint of Kaplan Test Prep **B.E.S. Publishing, the former owner of Barron's * ''Barro ...

list of the world's 30 best CEOs in 2012. Barron's said, Brito "has turned a South American brewer into the globe’s largest beer company, capped by the $52 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch in 2008. Already, he’s boosted that unit’s profit margins by 10 percentage points.”

AmBev

After graduating, Brito worked for

Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...

and

Daimler Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...

. In 1989, he joined Brazilian beer and soft drinks company

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...

, which merged in 1999 with Companhia Antarctica Paulista to form AmBev. At Ambev, Brito held various positions in finance, operations and sales, before being appointed CEO in January 2004. Headquartered in São Paulo, Ambev became Brazil's largest beer company.

InBev

In 2004, AmBev merged with Belgium’s

Interbrew Interbrew is subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV is based in Breda, Netherlands. It has one subsidiary, Ambev S.A. of São Paulo, Brazil. Brands Interbrew brands have historically included Budweiser, Stella Artois, Boddingtons, Beck's, Star ...

, owner of traditional beer brands Beck's and

Stella Artois Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ire ...

, to create InBev. Brito was appointed Zone President North America in January 2005 and then CEO in December 2005. InBev’s earnings margin (before taxes and depreciation) rose from 24.7 percent in 2004 to 34.6 percent in 2007. Its stock price nearly tripled during the same period.The Plot to Destroy America's Beer
businessweek.com, retrieved 17 September 2015

AB InBev

In July 2008,

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple glo ...

’s board of directors accepted InBev’s takeover bid of $52 billion, or $70 per share. Brito led the transaction and remained CEO of the enlarged group. Brito sold $9.4 billion in Anheuser-Busch assets, including

Busch Gardens Busch Gardens is the name of two amusement parks in the United States, owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. The original park is in Tampa, Florida, and the second park is in Williamsburg, Virginia. There were also previously B ...

and

SeaWorld SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (one park will be ...

. Trevor Stirling, a beer industry analyst at

Bernstein Research AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB) is a global asset management firm providing investment management and research services worldwide to institutional, high-net-worth and retail investors. AllianceBernstein's headquarters are located in Nashvill ...

(AB), said Brito made the company "enormously more profitable." In October 2016, Brito led the acquisition of

SABMiller SABMiller plc was a South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Prior to that date, it was the world's ...

at a purchase price of $102.85 billion, one of the largest corporate mergers in history. The deal was backed by 95% of SABMiller shareholders. Brito remained CEO of what is now the world's largest brewer, with approximately 170,000 employees producing more than 25% of the world's beer, including the labels

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

and

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. ''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrelat ...

. In July 2021, Brito left AB InBev and was succeeded as CEO by Michel Doukeris. During Brito's tenure as CEO, from 2005 to 2020, AB InBev's market capitalization increased from $26 billion to $141 billion, annual revenue increased from $14.5 billion to $46.88 billion, normalized EBITDA increased from $4.14 billion to $17.32 billion, and normalized EBITDA margin increased from 28.6% to 36.9%.

Personal life

Brito lives in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

with his wife.

References

External links

Latin Business Chronicle: Top 25 Multilatinos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brito, Carlos 1960 births AB InBev people Brazilian chief executives Federal University of Rio de Janeiro alumni Living people Businesspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city) Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni