Carlos Brito will step down as Chief Executive Officer of AB InBev after 15 years at the head of the world's largest beer producer. The Brazilian manager will be succeeded by Michel Doukeris, who is currently the group's president for North America. The change takes place on July 1st.
According to the Financial Times, Carlos Brito's departure represents the end of an era in the brewing industry as a whole. In addition to Carlos Brito, Jean-François van Boxmeer has also left as CEO of Heineken in the past, both of whom were known for helping to consolidate the industry by acquiring regional players.
As far as AB InBev is concerned, it also concludes a period of changes in the leadership structure, which had already begun with the departure of CFO Felipe Dutra and chairman Olivier Goudet.
"Brito was the architect who led and turned AB InBev into the world's leading beer company and turned it into a leading consumer goods company by masterfully integrating the various businesses it comprises today," says Martin Barrington, chairman of AB InBev, quoted by the same publication.
Michel Doukeris, the new CEO, has a significant challenge ahead of him, however, given the pandemic context. He will have to be able to continue the growth path in counter-cycle that AB InBev has recorded: revenues in the first quarter of this year jumped 17.2% to 12.3 billion dollars. The volume of beer sold also increased by 13.3%.
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