TRE Spring04

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

TRE Spring04 Ideas and Information for Readers Dear Friends, March 2011 “Our 21 st Year” Reviews in This Issue CHRONOS… AND KAIROS There are two Greek words for time: Chronos and kairos. We are all familiar with the former since it is the root of English words such as chronological, chronometer, and chronicle. Kairos is more • Dethroning the King (MacIntosh) Chronos • Bryant & May Off the Rails (Fowler) nuanced and elusive. refers to sequential time, time as the sun passes through the heavens, or a time span. • Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence Kairos, however, means the “moment,” a time in between, that critical instant when one must catch the tide or be of Arabia (Korda) swept under, a moment of undetermined time in which something special happens. While chronos is quantitative, • The Lost Books of the Odyssey (Mason) kairos has a qualitative nature. I heard a homily on these terms some time ago in which it was noted that many of us • Brief Encounters with Che Guevara (Fountain) are caught up in busy schedules, are measuring time ( chronos ), thus distracted and preoccupied, so that we miss the • Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable moment ( kairos ). It is those moments of insight, and emotion and joy, that are so essential to the appreciation of life, (15th Edition) and contentment. So, the thinking goes, let us manage our chronos in a way that allows enjoyment of the kairos. • Shantaram (Roberts) • Rules of Betrayal A PROBLEM WELL STATED… (Reich) Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958), an electrical engineer and inventor, is the • Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak (Coram) source of the familiar and oft-quoted, “A problem well stated is a problem half solved.” I kept thinking about this • The Killer (Hinshelwood) statement when Wall Street and the banks were being demonized last year during the debate on the massive financial • All the Devils are Here (McLean & Nocera) regulation bill, ostensibly adopted to prevent the recurrence of the deep recession we’ve been experiencing. I believe • Outwitting Trolls (Tapply) that when the history of this major downturn in the U.S. economy is written down the road, clear of the finger- • Left Neglected (Genova) pointing and political maneuvering, the role of the Federal Government will be seen as the root cause. There • The Mind’s Eye (Sacks) is, therefore, ample irony in the sense of the government enacting legislation to regulate what they caused, and • Start-Up Nation (Senor and Singer) naming it the Dodd-Frank bill after two of the legislators who many believe were complicit in creating the • Success Made Simple (Wesner) problems to begin with. A problem well stated? The weight and enforcement of the Com munity Reinvestment • Mark Twain’s Other Woman (Trombley) Act, the use of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to underwrite the substandard loans, and the substantial easing • Unnatural Death (Sayers) S • The Attenbury Emeralds by the Fed set the table for the crash. Sure there is plenty of blame to go around, but it was government (Walsh) E • Our Kind of Traitor (le Carré) meddling in the financial marketplace to achieve social goals (affordable housing) that was at the center. N • Scorpions (Feldman) I “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” (Albert • The Warmth of Other Suns (Wilkerson) L Einstein, 1879-1955) • Elizabeth Street (Fabiano) SPRING I find it irresistible to write about Spring when it arrives in California, naturally much earlier than • The Next Decade (Friedman) E in most other areas of the country. While on those early morning forays in the yard with our little dog, you • Rescue (Shreve) H • The Judas Gate simply cannot miss the miracles of nature. By late January/early February the rose bushes begin to break out, (Higgins) T • Separate Beds (Buchan) followed shortly by the camellias, all heralding warmer weather, the resurgence of the deciduous trees and • The Nomination (Tapply) N bushes and the blooming of the entire garden. This annual revival never fails to generate a sense of awe in this • Scribble, Scribble, Scribble (Schama) E observer, and a deeper appreciation of the laws of the universe. We’ve written previously in these pages about Features E the concepts of being opposed to doing. In modern times, some are overtaken by compulsive doing to fill the • Jane’s Selections hours and days. For little things like that garden walk and the observation and appreciation of natural miracles, W • TRE Favorites… A Decade Ago welcome to a little slice of being. T • William Tapply Mysteries… E AN EVENING FOR AMERICA In late February, we attended the Celebration of Freedom Gala at • The Business of Doing Business • English is Not So Easy! B the Ronald Reagan Library (Simi Valley, CA). With Air Force One positioned above us, the event was a . • Pronunciation for the Careful Speaker wonderful, inspirational American evening. We were welcomed by the 1st Marine Division Band, sang the • The Words We Use and Misuse . National Anthem, had the presentation of colors, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Congressional Medal • Building Your Working Vocabulary of Honor recipients were honored, and over half of the some 90 living Medal of Honor recipients were in . • Featured Author—Dorothy L. Sayers attendance! Former Secretary of State George Schultz was introduced by Commandant of the Marine Corps G • The Extraordinary Plasticity of the Brain General James Amos and presented with the Distinguished Citizen Award. Connie Stevens and Ann-Margret N • The Charles Lenox Mysteries I were presented with Bob Hope Awards (“Thanks for the Memories”) for their decades of entertaining service - • … and more D men throughout the world. The evening ended with the great tenor Steve Amerson filling the room with A “God Bless America.” This was the type of evening that all Americans should experience, reminding us of THE QUA RTERLY E the price of freedom and the great privilege of being an American. PUBLICATION R Sincerely, Subscribers-Only Password: FOR READERS KIPLING BY READE RS Until June 2011 for March 2011 Stephen H. Ackerman, Publisher www.the-readers-exchange.com Volume XXI Issue 1 1 ©2011 The Readers Exchange BOOK REVIEWS TITLE Reviews and Ratings: Book reviews are written by the Publisher (SHA) or by one of the Contributing AUTHOR, NO. OF PAGES, Editors and attributed accordingly. The 0-10 rating system was developed to provide some sense of YEAR OF PUBLICATION, the level of satisfaction of a book compared with other books. This is not a sophisticated evaluation. PUBLISHER AND RATING The rating is based on writing, storytelling ability, and the overall impact of each reading experience. ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE: What caused the massive financial meltdown in 2008? Many have written good books on the topic: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF Some on how badly (recklessly) firms were managed, some on the creation of the esoteric financial THE FINANCIAL CRISIS instruments which propelled the crisis, and some on the government’s role in the whole mess. The BETHANY MCLEAN & McLean-Nocera book aims to tell it all, stealing (wonderfully) Shakespeare’s famous line from The JOE NOCERA Tempest. Unlike all the other books that went for one devil, McLean and Nocera round them all up, (2010, 380pp, going back to the very roots of the problem—before new things went in bad directions. But first a Penguin) word about the authors. McLean is a writer specializing in so-called “long-form” pieces (a best- selling book on Enron and numerous articles about financial issues in premier publications); Joe 10 Nocera is famous for his weekly column in The New York Times. McLean and Nocera are at the very top of the game, and the book is proof. They do many things that no one else has done: They take the long view, looking back into the institutions and instruments when they were initially benign but started fast in getting dodgy on the edges; they get big players (silent till now), to talk freely; they explain complicated issues and instruments (e.g., credit default swaps) with striking clarity; and they round up all the devils—they tell as much of the whole story as feasible in one book. And they focus on what has been “hidden” from the public. Correctly, they focus on how Fannie Mae, created by Government with the noble mission of facilitating home ownership, lost its bearings and became a ferociously competitive, profit-hungry player in the sub-prime mortgage scramble—this is the classic tale of something very good going very bad, and with the Government helping all the way. And like the focus on Fannie Mae, when its metamorphosis was beginning, they focus on the metamorphosis of the mortgage-backed security, an instrument that went from benign to lethal. They quote the Salomon Brothers bond trader, Lewis Ranieri, who invented the mortgage- backed security: “I wasn’t out to invent the biggest floating craps game of all time, but that’s what happened.” (Contributing Editor William Lilley, III, Washington D.C.) OUR KIND OF TRAITOR Le Carré (his pen name) will be 80 later this year. This is his 22nd novel starting in 1961, and he JOHN LE CARRÉ remains best known for 1963’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and the invention of British (2010, 320pp, master spy George Smiley. I’ve read them all and shared many reviewers’ accolades and frustrations Viking) over the years. His specialty was the cold-war, and his novelistic apogee was, I think, The Honorable 9 Schoolboy (1977), set in Hong Kong with strings pulled by Smiley. Movies of his books include The Russia House with Sean Connery and The Tailor of Panama with Geoffrey Rush and Pierce Brosnan (two James Bonds and counting).
Recommended publications
  • Family Fortunes
    ffirs.indd ii 13/06/12 1:58 PM FAMILY FORTUNES ffirs.indd i 13/06/12 1:58 PM ffirs.indd ii 13/06/12 1:58 PM FAMILY FORTUNES How to Build Family Wealth and Hold Onto It for 100 Years BILL BONNER WILL BONNER John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ffirs.indd iii 13/06/12 1:58 PM Copyright © 2012 by Bill Bonner and Will Bonner. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/ permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
    [Show full text]
  • Bk Harp 003165.Pdf
    Adolphus Busch, the first King of Beer, was an immigrant from Germany who turned a struggling St. Louis brewery that made bad-tasting beer into the world’s most successful brewing operation, and in the process became immensely wealthy. Courtesy of the Missouri History Museum, St. Louis The historic Anheuser-Busch Brew House at the corner of Ninth and Pestalozzi Streets in St. Louis, where a crowd of 35,000 gathered to count down the minutes the night Prohibi- tion ended. Courtesy of the Missouri History Museum, St. Louis Anheuser-Busch workers gathered outside their rapidly growing brew- ery in the 1890s. They labored from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. seven days a week, with three hours off on Sunday to go to church. Their salaries ranged from $55 to $75 a month, with meals furnished at 6:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., and 4:00 p.m., and a daily allotment of twenty free beers per man. Courtesy of the Missouri History Museum, St. Louis The “big house” at Grant’s Farm, a twenty-six-room French Renaissance–style chateau built by August A. Busch in 1910, at a cost of $300,000, on land once owned by Ulysses S. Grant. Missouri’s version of Hearst Castle, it has been the Busch family estate since the early 1900s. Courtesy of the Busch family Adolphus III and August A. Busch Sr. pause to feed a large buck dur- ing a carriage ride through the deer park at Grant’s Farm (circa 1930). Adolphus took over the brewery in 1934, when his father shot himself to death.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon
    ffirs.indd iv 9/9/11 11:04:00 AM Praise for Dethroning the King “A Foolish Book Recommendation for July.” —The Motley Fool “How the Busch clan lost control of an iconic American beer company. If ever an American company represented the land of milk and honey for corporate execu- tives it was Anheuser-Busch . For decades a palace of well-paid vice presidents in cushy offi ces presided over the manufacture of Budweiser, America’s beer, in that most American of cities, St. Louis. ‘Few companies on earth were more evocative of America, with all of its history and iconography, than Anheuser- Busch,’ writes veteran Financial Times journalist Julie MacIntosh in her strenu- ously reported book, Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon. As the title suggests, the reign of the King of Beers ended in the summer of 2008, when the company merged with the Brazil-based brew- ing giant InBev, an outfi t about as culturally different from Anheuser-Busch as one could imagine. At $70 a share, or $52 billion, it was the largest all-cash acquisition in history and even more noteworthy because it occurred during the gathering storm of a global fi nancial collapse . When growth-hungry InBev arrives on the scene, a company so lean and cost-conscious that they’re called the Walmart of brewers, all hell breaks loose at the complacent Anheuser-Busch headquarters. The Brazilians make a pitch of $43 billion in what’s known on Wall Street as a “bear hug”—an offer so generous that the recipient can’t refuse.
    [Show full text]
  • Sabmiller Plc Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV
    THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. PART II OF THIS DOCUMENT COMPRISES AN EXPLANATORY STATEMENT IN COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 897 OF THE COMPANIES ACT 2006. THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO A TRANSACTION WHICH, IF IMPLEMENTED, WILL RESULT IN THE CANCELLATION OF THE LISTINGS OF SABMILLER SHARES ON THE OFFICIAL LIST OF THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE AND THE MAIN BOARD OF THE JOHANNESBURG STOCK EXCHANGE, AND OF TRADING OF SABMILLER SHARES ON THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE’S MAIN MARKET FOR LISTED SECURITIES AND ON THE MAIN BOARD OF THE JOHANNESBURG STOCK EXCHANGE. THE SECURITIES PROPOSED TO BE ISSUED PURSUANT TO THE UK SCHEME WILL NOT BE REGISTERED WITH THE SEC UNDER THE US SECURITIES ACT OR THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY STATE OR OTHER JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES. THE APPROVAL OF THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN ENGLAND AND WALES PROVIDES THE BASIS FOR THE SECURITIES TO BE ISSUED WITHOUT REGISTRATION UNDER THE US SECURITIES ACT, IN RELIANCE ON THE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE US SECURITIES ACT PROVIDED BY SECTION 3(a)(10). If you are in any doubt as to the action you should take, you are recommended to seek your own independent advice as soon as possible from your stockbroker, bank, solicitor, accountant, fund manager or other appropriate independent professional adviser who, if you are taking advice in the United Kingdom, is appropriately authorised to provide such advice under the United Kingdom Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended), or from another appropriately authorised independent financial adviser if you are in a territory outside the United Kingdom.
    [Show full text]
  • The Best Beer Company in a Better World
    In November 2008 we closed the combination with Anheuser-Busch, creating Anheuser-Busch InBev, a world class consumer goods company with a pro- forma EBITDA of approximately 8.2 billion euro in 2008. The combined business has four of the top ten selling beers in the world, and has a number one or number two position in over 20 markets. Our dream is to become Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch The Best Beer Company in a Better World Annual Report 2008 Annual Report 2008 Report Annual Anheuser-Busch InBev In November 2008 we closed the combination with Anheuser-Busch, creating Anheuser-Busch InBev, a world class consumer goods company with a pro- forma EBITDA of approximately 8.2 billion euro in 2008. The combined business has four of the top ten selling beers in the world, and has a number one or number two position in over 20 markets. Our dream is to become Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch The Best Beer Company in a Better World Annual Report 2008 Annual Report 2008 Report Annual Anheuser-Busch InBev 4 | Letter to Shareholders 6 | Anheuser-Busch: The story so far 8 | The Language we speak 14 | The Brands that define us 22 | The Zones that drive us 30 | The People that make the difference 34 | The World around us 41 | Financial Report 127 | Corporate Governance ‘Anheuser-Busch and InBev both have rich brewing traditions and a commitment to quality and integrity. We will succeed by celebrating Anheuser-Busch InBev is a publicly traded and integrating both company (Euronext: ABI) based in Leuven, companies’ strong brands, Belgium.
    [Show full text]
  • A King of Beers?
    A KING OF BEERS? CONCENTRATION OF POWER OVER AMERICA’S ALCOHOL MARKETS IS BAD FOR CONSUMERS. IT ALSO IMPERILS CONSTITUTIONAL AND MORAL BALANCES. A REPORT BY THE MARKETS, ENTERPRISE, AND RESILIENCY INITIATIVE NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION December 2012 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY …………………………………………………………………………………………………..……..i I. A NOTE ON MARKETS AND MORALITY .…………………………………………………………………….……………1 II. THE DANGERS OF MONOPOLY ..……………………………………………………….………………………….………3 III. THE MARCH TO MONOPOLY …..……..………………………………………………………….………………………7 IV. GUTTING THE MIDDLE TIER ……..…………………………………………………………………………………….14 V. LAST CALL …………………....……..………………………………………………………………………………………23 VI. REFERENCES ……….……………………………………………..……………………………………………………….24 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In some respects, America’s market for beer has never looked healthier. Where fewer than a hundred brewers operated a generation ago, we now can count more than 2,000, producing a mind-boggling variety of beers. Yet just below this drinkers’ paradise, we see a market that has never been more closed. Two giant firms — Anheuser-Busch Inbev and MillerCoors — now control some 90 percent of production. At the same time, a few giant retailers — led by Costco — are rolling up control over sales. This concentration is already diminishing real variety in much of the country. Worse, the giants are breaking down a decades-old regulatory regime designed to ensure local control over alcohol sales and to prevent big companies from pushing cheap alcohol onto society. These changes hurt almost all Americans. For consumers, it will become harder to get that special craft beer. For independent brewers, it will become harder to get to market and to scale up business. For society, it will become harder to control where, when, how, and to whom beer and liquor is sold, and at what price.
    [Show full text]
  • 21Nov200819011210
    21NOV200819011210 ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV SA/NV (a public limited liability company with registered office at Grand-Place/Grote Markt 1, 1000 Brussels, Belgium) BRANDBREW S.A. (a company incorporated under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with registered office at 5, Parc d’Activit´e Syrdall, L-5365 Munsbach,¨ registered with the Luxembourg Register of Commerce and Companies under number B-75696) as Issuers on the basis set out below E10,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by AMBREW S.A. (a soci´et´e anonyme with registered office at 5, Parc d’Activit´e Syrdall, L-5365 Munsbach,¨ registered with the Luxembourg Register of Commerce and Companies under number B-99525) ANHEUSER-BUSCH COMPANIES, INC. (a company incorporated in the State of Delaware with registered office at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801) ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV SA/NV (a public limited liability company with registered office at Grand-Place/Grote Markt 1, 1000 Brussels, Belgium) ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV WORLDWIDE INC. (a company incorporated in the State of Delaware with registered office at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801) BRANDBREW S.A. (a company incorporated under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with registered office at 5, Parc d’Activit´e Syrdall, L-5365 Munsbach,¨ registered with the Luxembourg Register of Commerce and Companies under number B-75696) COBREW NV/SA (a Belgian public limited liability company with registered office at Brouwerijplein 1, 3000 Leuven, Belgium) INBEV BELGIUM NV/SA (a Belgian public limited liability company with registered office at 21, Boulevard Industriel, 1070 Brussels (Anderlecht)) INBEV FRANCE S.A.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Fall of the House of Busch It Took Four Generations to Build Anheuser-Busch, One of the Most Celebrated Companies in America
    65 Fall of the House of Busch It took four generations to build Anheuser-Busch, one of the most celebrated companies in America. And only one for it to come apart By Susan Berfield Illustration by David Parkins On Dec. 18, 2010, August Busch IV and his girlfriend, Adrienne Martin, a former Hooters waitress, aspiring art therapist, and divorced The death of Adrienne Martin is the mother of an 8-year-old boy, began what was, latest twist in a saga that has trans"xed for them, a typical night in. They enjoyed St. Louis. The Busches and their beer company had survived Prohibition, labor a steak dinner at Busch’s home. They drank strikes, and price wars, growing to oper- ate 12 breweries around the country, pro- for hours, and finally went to sleep around 3 in ducing 128 million barrels of beer in 2007 and taking in nearly $17 billion in revenue. the morning, according to the first of three The red, white, and blue Budweiser can versions Busch provided to authorities. is practically synonymous with America itself. But at a crucial time, the company He woke sometime after noon and went to the failed to adapt to a changing market, leav- ing it weakened and vulnerable to a for- kitchen to make two protein shakes. When he eign takeover. And it was August Busch IV, the last member of the family to lead the returned to the bedroom with Martin’s drink, brewery, who was there when it all came he tried to wake her. She was unconscious.
    [Show full text]
  • €40,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme Unconditionally and Irrevocably Guaranteed By
    ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV SA/NV (a Belgian public limited liability company with registered office at Grand-Place/Grote Markt 1, 1000 Brussels, Belgium) as Issuer on the basis set out below €40,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by ANHEUSER-BUSCH COMPANIES, LLC (a limited liability company incorporated in the State of Delaware with registered office at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 United States of America) ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV FINANCE INC. (a company incorporated in the State of Delaware with registered office at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 United States of America) ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV WORLDWIDE INC. (a company incorporated in the State of Delaware with registered office at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 United States of America) BRANDBEV S.À R.L. (a société à responsabilité limitée incorporated under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with registered office at 15 Breedewues, L-1259 Senningerberg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Register of Commerce and Companies under number B 80.984) BRANDBREW S.A. (a société anonyme under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with registered office at 15 Breedewues, L-1259 Senningerberg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Register of Commerce and Companies under number B-75696) COBREW NV (a Belgian public limited liability company with registered office at Brouwerijplein 1, 3000 Leuven, Belgium) An investment in Notes issued under the Programme involves certain risks. You should have regard to the risk factors described in Section 2 (Risk Factors) of this Base Prospectus.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 May 17, 2010 GRUPO MODELO: TROUBLE BREWING in the GLOBAL BEER INDUSTRY1 Carlos Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of Grupo Modelo
    May 17, 2010 GRUPO MODELO: TROUBLE BREWING IN THE GLOBAL BEER INDUSTRY1 Carlos Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of Grupo Modelo S .A. de C.V., sat back and stared at the silent telephone in his office in Mexico City. It was June 13, 2008, and Fernandez had just finished a call with August Busch IV, the CEO of Anheuser -Busch (A-B), the iconic North American brewery that owned 50.2% of Modelo’s shares. A -B had recently received a takeover offer from industry giant InBev, and Busch feared that the shareholders would accept it, ending A-B’s 150-year history as an independent company. Ever since InBev made its move for A -B, Busch IV had been hinting at making Modelo an offer for its remaining shares, thus making the Mexican brewer a wholly -owned subsidiary and making Anheuser-Busch too large for InBev to acquire. Now the ball was in Fernandez’s court. Grupo Modelo was an icon in its country —Mexico’s largest brewer and a source of national pride. How would the Mexican public feel if its hallmark company was to be acquired by Americans? But the alternative may well be a de facto acquisition by InBev, which would own half of Modelo if the deal went through. Fernandez knew he had to make a decision that would create the best value for Modelo, a nd then sell that decision to the proud, eccentric families that controlled it. InBev was bearing down on Anheuser-Busch quickly, so time was of the essence. Grupo Modelo Cerveceria Modelo S.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Sonho Grande
    Cristiane Correa SONHO GRANDE Como Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles e Beto Sicupira revolucionaram o capitalismo brasileiro e conquistaram o mundo Sumário Prefácio, por Jim Collins ..............................................7 A construção de um império .........................................16 Os “invasores” da Anheuser-Busch ....................................19 Um surfista em Harvard .............................................37 Em busca dos “PSDs” – Poor, Smart, Deep Desire to Get Rich ...............50 Missão dada é missão cumprida ......................................66 Quem não entrega cai fora ...........................................76 De banqueiros a empresários. 84 A formação do triunvirato ..........................................100 A costela do Garantia ..............................................108 Para que plano de negócios? .........................................116 Uma dose de pirotecnia ............................................130 A semente da autodestruição. .140 One trick pony ....................................................166 Mate o concorrente pelo caixa .......................................179 “São Paulo e Corinthians no mesmo time” .............................189 Paris, Nova York, Londres, São Paulo e 8.500 e-mails ....................200 A recompensa de 1 bilhão de dólares .................................220 Os próximos lances ................................................231 Bibliografia .......................................................239 Agradecimentos ...................................................243
    [Show full text]
  • The Plot to Destroy America's Beer
    America’s Beer America’s Destroy The Plot to Plot The PHOTOGRAPH ILLUSTRATION BY CREDITTK PHOTOGRAPH ILLUSTRATION BY CREDITTK Photograph by Jamie Chung Jamie by Photograph By Devin Leonard Devin By 65 Germany’s Beer Germany’s Destroy The Plot to Plot The PHOTOGRAPH ILLUSTRATION BY CREDITTK PHOTOGRAPH ILLUSTRATION BY CREDITTK Photograph by Jamie Chung Jamie by Photograph By Devin Leonard Devin By 65 October 29 — November 4, 2012 Bloomberg Businessweek rian Rinfret likes imported the Manhattan headquarters, he wears jeans to work and beer from Germany. He tucks in his shirts. He keeps his company identification sometimes buys Spaten. He badge clipped to his waist where everybody can see it, enjoys an occasional Bit­ even though everyone knows who he is. To the rest of burger. When he was 25 years the world, he keeps a low profile. He does not, for ex­ old, he discovered Beck’s, a ample, accept interview requests from Bloomberg Busi- pils ner brewed in the city of Bremen in accordance with nessweek. That might be his character, and it might be the Reinheitsgebot, the German Purity Law of 1516. It said calculated. The Busch family is a legendary American so right on the label. After that, Rinfret was hooked. dynasty. Many people in the U.S. aren’t thrilled that a INSTITUTE BEER V; INBE One Friday night in January, Rinfret, who is now 52, foreign company now owns Budweiser, America’s beer. stopped on the way home from work at his local liquor This is not to say that Brito lacks American admir­ AB store in Monroe, N.J., and purchased a 12­pack of Beck’s.
    [Show full text]