Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth Is Worth Millions, Speaks Out About Controversy

Anheuser-Busch is in the business of bringing people together over a beer, not dividing them, according to company CEO Brendan Whitworth. He released a statement on April 14, 2023. Whitworth addressed the controversy surrounding the promotional partnership between AB InBev’s Bud Light brand and transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” Whitworth said. “My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another.” So, amid the controversy, what's Brendan Whitworth's net worth? Keep reading to find out!

Whitworth has been CEO of AB InBev’s North America Zone since July 2021. According to Worthly.com, Whitworth earns an annual salary of about $12 million and his net worth is estimated at around $35 million.

After earning a dual bachelor’s degree in economics and classics from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, Whitworth served three years as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he led a platoon of over 70 Marines. He was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for exceptional service and performance, his LinkedIn page states.

After leaving the Marine Corps, Whitworth worked five years as an operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counterterrorism center. During his time at the CIA, he recruited and handled spies in Washington, D.C., Pakistan, Tunisia, and Iraq, the Daily Mail reports.

While stationed in Bagdad, Iraq, Whitworth studied for the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) to get into Harvard Business School. He left the CIA in 2006 to pursue his MBA full-time and received his degree from Harvard in 2008.

Whitworth worked as the senior director of sales at PepsiCo Frito Lay for five years before joining AB InBev in 2013. At Anheuser-Busch, he worked his way up the ranks until he was promoted to CEO in 2021.

Bud Light is owned by Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of AB InBev, the largest brewing company in the U.S. The low-calorie version of AB InBev’s flagship Budweiser, Bud Light, was first introduced in 1982.

Conservatives are up in arms and calling for a boycott of Bud Light after Mulvaney, a transgender woman, posted a video on Instagram on April 1, 2023, of her drinking the beer. In the video, Mulvaney shows a Bud Light can with her face on it that she said the company sent her to celebrate her “365th day of womanhood.”

In one of the most hostile responses to Mulvaney’s video, Kid Rock posted a video to Twitter where he shot up several cases of Bud Light with an assault rifle. “F--k Bud Light. F--k Anheuser-Busch.”

Budweiser released a new “patriotic” advertisement this week, reported Fox Business. The ad depicts one of the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses trotting past iconic U.S. landmarks such as the Lincoln Memorial, Grand Canyon, and New York City.

“Brewed for those who found opportunity and challenge and hope in tomorrow,” the ad states. Since the partnership with Mulvaney came to light, Bud Light has lost $6 billion in market capitalization. It remains to be seen how Whitworth, Anheuser-Busch, and Bud Light plan to move forward following the controversy.