Sales of the leading beer companies worldwide 2024
Anheuser-Busch InBev was the largest beer company in the world in 2024, with sales amounting to approximately 59.4 billion U.S. dollars. Heineken Holding was the second largest company with sales of 32.8 billion dollars.
Global Beer Industry
Beer is among the handful of alcoholic beverages that have been consumed for centuries. Varied forms of beer can be obtained by effecting alterations to the beer brewing process. Some of the most common types of beers consumed today include: bitters, ales, and stouts. Other types of beer are: standard beer, low/no alcoholic content beer, premium lager, crafted beer, and specialty beers.
The global beer industry has undergone a steady process of consolidation. Ten years ago the global beer industry was highly fragmented. Since then, a steady process of consolidation via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has taken place - often focused around cost-cutting opportunities or geared towards acquiring attractive emerging market assets: (e.g. the 60 billion U.S. dollar merger between Anheuser-Busch and InBev in 2008; Heineken's 24 billion U.S. dollar acquisition of Asia Pacific Breweries in 2012).
In 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev controlled 27 percent of the global beer market. The company is responsible for the production, importation and distribution of many global brands; specifically Budweiser, Stella Artois, Beck's, Corona, Leffe and Hoegaarden. The company also produces domestic brands such as Bud Light, Busch, Michelob and Shock Top.
The pace of globalization for beer has greatly accelerated over this period with the increased activity of multinational beer enterprises acquiring existing breweries and constructing new facilities in emerging markets, as well as licensing production of their brands outside their home countries. As incomes rise and living styles change in developing countries, demand for such products has grown.