The world's largest brewing company, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, is only getting bigger. Shareholders this week approved a $100 billion dollar deal that would allow AB Inbev to take total control of the world's second largest brewing company, SAB Miller (Bray, 2016).
This acquisition would mean that AB Inbev would be accountable for brewing just over one out of every four beers consumed throughout our world and would generate upwards of $55 billion in revenue per year (Bray, 2016).
The biggest advantage for AB Inbev in this deal is the new market opportunities in Africa and Latin America, where SAB Miller has many regional breweries in countries like Botswana, Peru and Ecuador (Bray, 2016). This is huge for AB Inbev because these smaller countries already have their "official" regional beers that the locals strictly only drink. Entering these markets with no real connection to the people and region would lead to complete failure.
I personally think it is awful that these brewing giants are coming together to form one giant company.With so much of the world's beer market being dominated by a single company, this takes away so much competition. This will lead to higher beer prices and a decrease in the need to do much better in order to beat the competitor. I am afraid that one day, the beer market will be a total monopoly that provides average beer and high costs. Competition is a necessity for a well-functioning market.
Bray, Chad (2016, September). Shareholders approve sabmiller takeover by anheuser-busch inbev. International New York
Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/business/dealbook/sabmiller-anheuser-busch-inbev-beer-
merger.html?ref=international.
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