The owner of Budweiser and Corona is planning the largest IPO of 2019. Meet the company's notoriously private CEO, who only has one hobby and doesn't like company perks
Carlos Alves De Brito, 59, was born in Brazil. He has said that 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, 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 Universidad do Rio de Janeiro, according to Bloomberg. Before going on to get his masters at Stanford, he was an executive at Shell. Brito convinced 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 current MBA students, NBC News reported.
Brito is an extremely 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 is married and has 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 is 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 €1.48m ($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 €250m (about $469 million in today's dollars) at the time.
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.
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 may now be planning the world's largest IPO, but the company 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.
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 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."
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