◼ BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek July 29, 2019● ABInBev’sventurecapitalunitis growingfastwithelderflowerales,cannedcocktails,andwinegonnaneeda biggerboat,”hedeadpans,quoting
the famous line when Police Chief Brody (Roy
Scheider) first sees the great white’s gaping maw.
While Higgins scans the sea, expert shark spotter
WayneDavispilotsa single-engineplanethatbuzzes
aboveuslikea seagull.
Within 10 minutes we’ve found our first shark,
a dark outline swimming deep below the surface.
Other sightings quickly follow. A shark is “one boat”
away or “two boats,” Davis radios from his plane.
When our quarry returns to the open ocean, “he’s
headed into the abyss,” he says.
In all, we see a dozen sharks. We even become
a tourist attraction ourselves. Two young men inThe
World’s Biggest
Brewer^ Thinks
Small14
NASSETTA: SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG. DATA: INFORMATIONRESOURCESINC.From an art deco storefront in New York’s Chelsea
neighborhood, a company called ZX Ventures has
assembled stakes in scores of nascent consumer
brands: There’s a partnership to research protein
snacks for yoga fans, a controlling interest in a mar-
keterofcannedroséfoundedbya socialmedia
impresariowhocallshimselftheFatJewish,and
alcohol-focused e-tailers in more than a half-dozen
countries. But this isn’t your typical startup incuba-
tor. It’s an arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, pro-
ducer of mass-market stalwarts such as Budweiser,
Beck’s, and Bass. ZX’s “culture is about dreaming
big,” says Pedro Earp, AB InBev’s chief marketing
officer and head of ZX. “There are so many oppor-
tunities out there, man.”
The idea is to identify potential growth engines
and bet on them fast, either in-house or via acqui-
sitions, so the world’s largest brewer isn’t caught
out by insurgents. That’s one reason Labatt, an AB
InBev subsidiary in Canada, is researching can-
nabis beverages in a partnership with Tilray Inc.
Staying current with changing trends is a chal-
lenge facing companies making products from
detergenttoketchup,asfickleshoppersabandon
old-linebrandsforsmall-batchupstarts.Thiswas
highlightedonJuly12, when AB InBev pulled an
offering of shares in its Asia unit because of tepid
investor interest. Recognizing that drinkers were
turning their backs on big-name beers, AB InBevboard members in 2015 met to discuss ways to
boost innovation—an acknowledgment that the
group was struggling to pull funding away from
juggernauts such as Corona, Michelob, and Stella
Artois. “We’d been focusing a lot on innovation,
and we took trips to Silicon Valley like all the other
companies,” says Earp, a jovial Brazilian with a pen-
chant for flannel shirts. “But what we gained was
more incremental than exponential growth.” At the
meeting, he says, the board approved a unit that
would be totally independent, “to focus 100% on
what can be important for our future.”
ZX has become one of the brewing giant’s most
successfulinitiatives,with1,500employees,stakes
inmorethan 60 companies,and 2018 revenuetop-
ping$1billion.Lastyearit accountedfor10%of
ABInBev’s global sales growth and more than half
in parts of Europe. The goal is to boost the cool
quotient while addressing problems that developed
as AB InBev grew from a small Brazilian brewer
intoa conglomeratethatproducesa thirdofthe
world’sbeer.Thecompanyhasa reputationfor
multibillion-dollar hostile takeovers followed by
massive job cuts, part of a tireless obsession with
costs,whichmustbekeptinchecktopaydown
the$100billionindebttakenontofundacquisi-
tions.ThatissuecameintofocusonJuly19,when
AB InBev said it will sell Australianbeerassets to
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. for $11.3billion.THE BOTTOM LINE The revival of great white shark and seal
populations off Cape Cod has inspired a host of businesses seeking
to capitalize on fascination with the ocean’s apex predator.backward baseball caps and beer T-shirts follow
us in their motorboat, then video the sharks with a
remote-controlled drone.
An hour into our trip, a great white swims right
up to us. It’s so close I can see deep gashes on its
back. The wounds likely came from the claws of
gray seals fighting for their lives. The shark rises up,
nearly hitting the boat as it switches direction, its
tail drenching us with water before it returns to the
deep. The scene is both thrilling and unsettling, the
very definition of shark tourism. �John Hechinger2014 20181.6%0.0● Change in beer and
ale sales in the U.S., year
over year, by volume