Anheuser-Busch keeps it in the family

US brewing giant Anheuser-Busch today named August Busch IV, the head of its US beer business and the great-great-grandson of its founder, as its new president and chief executive.

August Busch IV, 42, succeeds Patrick Stokes, 64, who will become chairman after more than four years as CEO of the top US brewer.

As part of the transition, current Chairman August Busch III, father of the new CEO, will retire from his executive functions but will remain on the company's board of directors.

The changes are effective December 1.

Anheuser-Busch controls about 50 per cent of the US beer market with brands like Budweiser, Bud Light and Rolling Rock.

The company was founded in 1852 as Bavarian Brewery and was sold eight years later to Eberhard Anheuser, the father-in-law of company co-founder Adolphus Busch.

The promotion of August Busch IV marks the return of the Busch family to the company's top job after a short hiatus. When Stokes took the helm in 2002, he was the first CEO in 142 years who was neither an Anheuser nor a Busch.

Busch IV's selection, the fifth generation of the family to lead the company, comes a few weeks after another well-known scion, Bill Ford Jr, gave up the top job at Ford Motor Co, the automaker founded by his great-grandfather.

Anheuser-Busch is one of a handful of large, publicly-traded US companies still dominated by the founders' families. Others include chewing gum maker Wm Wrigley Jr Co and cosmetics company Estee Lauder Cos Inc.

- REUTERS