Highlights of the year

  • January

    We were selected for the 2019 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index as one of 230 companies around the world working toward more equal, inclusive workplaces.

  • February

    Stella Artois launched a Super Bowl campaign with actors Jeff Bridges and Sarah Jessica Parker, as part of our partnership with Water.org. The spot earned 7.6 billion impressions and received 418,000 social mentions while providing clean water access to 270,000 people in the developing world.

    Skol Puro Malte was introduced in our South America Zone during an official launch during Carnival in February. It has become the biggest innovation in the Zone in recent years in terms of volume.

    We introduced Leffe Blond 0.0%, the first 0.0% abbey beer. It debuted in Belgium then, later in the year, the Netherlands and finally in France to very positive reactions.

  • March

    We strengthened our portfolio in France with the launch of Budweiser. Coupled with its launch in the Netherlands later in the year, Budweiser became our fastest growing brand in Europe.

    We launched Z-Tech—a new innovation group with the mission to catalyze the growth of small and medium businesses worldwide, through technology.

    Castle Lager launched an iconic supporters’ jersey for all South African sports enthusiasts made up of jersey strips from six unifying sporting moments in the country’s history. The jersey was manufactured to inspire the national teams and simultaneously fuel fan passion, helping the brand continue its presence as a national unifier through sports.

  • April

    We were recognized among Fast Company’s World-Changing Ideas 2019 and Forbes’ inaugural Blockchain 50 list for our partnership with BanQu, a startup from our 100+ Sustainability Accelerator which helps provide financial identities to unbanked farmers in Uganda and Zambia.

  • May

    Our North America team hosted an AB InBev Investor Day in New York showcasing our five commercial priorities for the US, our portfolio of brands (including innovations) and our team in charge of leading future growth.

  • June

    To celebrate Sustainability Week, over 1,200 of our colleagues in Nigeria came together through our Better World Champions initiative to participate in street cleanups, rehabbing local roads, planting trees, coaching students, recycling and more.

    As an extension of a longstanding partnership with Parley for the Oceans, Corona began accepting plastic intercepted in cities and on coastlines around the world as payment for beer during the week of World Oceans Day.

  • July

    We announced our agreement to divest Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) to Asahi Group Holding, Ltd. for 16 billion AUD, equivalent to approximately 11.3 billion USD in enterprise value.

    We launched the Road Safety Toolkit in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), which implements solutions to reduce traffic accidents and save lives.

    Budweiser kicked off its global “Be a King” campaign and became the official beer of both the Premier League and La Liga, two of the most amazing football leagues with millions of fans around the world.

  • August

    We were ranked number 19 on Fortune’s 2019 “Change the World” List in recognition of our agricultural development initiatives to help farmers become more financially empowered.

    Our Africa Zone teamed up with five women in the beer industry to create a special limited-edition brew that celebrated women in brewing, and embodied the characteristics of strong independent women.

  • September

    We completed the initial public offering (IPO) of a minority stake of our Asia Pacific business (Budweiser APAC) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for 5.75 billion USD. By doing so, we created a superior regional champion in the consumer goods space positioned to expand across the fastest growing markets in the APAC region.

    We led Global Be(er) Responsible Day, engaging 69,000 colleagues worldwide to promote smart drinking. Together, we reached 3.9 million consumers and 1.5 million customers across more than 40 countries with responsible drinking messages.

    We reinforced our commitment to sustainable development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals during the week of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly and demonstrated how we leverage the power and reach of our global brands to inspire action.

  • October

    October marked the three-year anniversary of our combination with SAB and we completed the delivery of the 3.2 billion USD synergies and cost savings on a constant currency basis as of August 2016.

    Budweiser partnered with global football champion Sergio Ramos in a new installment of our “Be a King” campaign. This partnership helps to inspire people worldwide by bringing them closer to a king of football.

  • November

    Corona joined forces with big wave surfer Frank Solomon to debut the documentary Street Surfers on local South African television. The film is a thought-provoking look at a unique band of heroes in South Africa who are making an impact to address global pollution.

    On November 21, we partnered with Nikola Motor Company and BYD (Build Your Dreams) to complete the first ever ‘Zero-Emission Beer Delivery’ in the US, delivering beer from the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, US using only zero-emission trucks.

  • December

    Our GITEC team unveiled a new digital printing technology that imprints branding onto the bottles directly, eliminating the need for paper or plastic labels and providing potential environmental and economic benefits. To launch the initiative, we released 200,000 bottles of a limited-edition run of Beck’s Artist Series.

    We celebrated contracting our first series-produced electric trucks in Europe, one of several planned that will help reduce our carbon footprint in getting our beers to customers across Europe in 2020.