Anheuser-Busch Sports Marketing Head Tony Ponturo to Retire
Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch, will retire from that post at the end of this year.
The news came yesterday as Belgian brewer InBev said it has come much closer to completing its $52 billion acquisition of St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch.
Ponturo, 56 and a 26-year veteran at A-B, is commonly regarded as one of the pivotal figures in sports branding and helped guide the company’s investments around such properties as the Super Bowl and the Olympics. Most recently he signed a deal in February to make Bud light the official beer of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Ponturo started out at Anheuser-Busch as director of media services in 1982 and was named vice president of the media and sports marketing division in 1990, with global responsibilities added in 1998. He was ranked this year as No. 14 among Business Week’s list of the 100 most prominent sports executives.
“Tony has been an invaluable resource to Anheuser-Busch and to me,” A-B CEO August Busch IV wrote in a memo to employees on Monday. “In the early 1990s, he took a risk and brought our media operation in-house and created a world-class operation that has benefited A-B and our stakeholders.”
The company has not yet named Ponturo’s replacement.
The announcement came soon after shareholders of both companies approved the purchase of Anheuser-Busch by InBev. On Nov. 14, the U.S. Department of Justice gave the deal a green light; China’s Ministry of Commerce has also okayed the purchase, a necessary step since both parties hold shares in Chinese breweries. The deal is still waiting for approval from U.K antitrust authorities.
In anticipation of the purchase, InBev said yesterday that it has changed its name to Anheuser-Busch InBev.
The new company will be one of the leading consumer products manufacturers in the world. A-B brews Budweiser, the most popular beer brand in the U.S. InBev produces Stella Artois and Beck’s.
