Logo since 2011
|Traded as||Euronext: HEIA|
|Founder(s)||Gerard Adriaan Heineken|
|Key people||Jean-François van Boxmeer (Chairman/CEO)
René Hooft Graafland (CFO)
|Revenue||€17.123 billion (2011)|
|Operating income||€2.455 billion (2011)|
|Profit||€1.430 billion (2011)|
|Total assets||€27.127 billion (2011)|
|Total equity||€10.092 billion (2011)|
Heineken International (pronounced [ˈɦɛinəkə(n)]) is a Dutch brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. As of 2007, Heineken owns over 125 breweries in more than 70 countries and employs approximately 66,000 people. It brews and sells more than 170 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers, including Cruzcampo, Tiger Beer, Żywiec, Starobrno, Zagorka, Birra Moretti, Ochota, Murphy’s, Star and of course Heineken Pilsener.
With an annual beer production of 139.2 million hectoliters, Heineken ranks as the third largest brewer in the world after Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, based on volume. Heineken's Dutch breweries are located in Zoeterwoude, 's-Hertogenbosch and Wijlre. The original brewery in Amsterdam, closed in 1988, is preserved as a museum called Heineken Experience.
Gerard Adriaan Heineken 
The Heineken company was founded in 1864 when the 22-year-old Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought a brewery known as De Hooiberg (the haystack) in Amsterdam. In 1869 Heineken switched to the use of bottom-fermenting yeast. In 1873 the brewery's name changed to Heineken's Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij (HBM), and opened a second brewery in Rotterdam in 1874. In 1886 Dr. H. Elion, a pupil of the French chemist Louis Pasteur, developed the "Heineken A-yeast" in the Heineken laboratory. This yeast is still the key ingredient of Heineken beer.
Henry Pierre Heineken 
The founder's son, Henry Pierre Heineken, managed the company from 1917 to 1940, and continued involvement with the company until 1951. During his tenure, Heineken developed techniques to maintain consistent beer quality during large-scale production.
After World War I, the company focused more and more on export. Three days after Prohibition ended in the United States, the first Heineken shipment landed in New York. From that day on, Heineken has remained one of the most successful imported beer brands in the United States.
Alfred Henry Heineken 
Henry Pierre's son, Alfred Henry "Freddy" Heineken, started working at the company in 1940, and 1971 was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board. He was a powerful force behind Heineken's continued global expansion, and while he retired from the Executive Board in 1989, he maintained involvement with the company until his death in 2002.
During this period, Heineken tried to increase its stock price by purchasing competing breweries and closing them down. After World War II, many small breweries were bought or closed. In 1968 Heineken merged with its biggest competitor, Amstel, and in 1975 opened a new brewery in Zoeterwoude. The Amstel brewery was closed in 1980, and its production moved to Zoeterwoude and Den Bosch.
On January 12, 2010, Heineken International successfully bought the brewery division of Mexican giant FEMSA, and also merged with the company, expanding its reach throughout Latin America. The company will sell its products there through FEMSA, which is the largest bottler and brewery in all of Latin America, and maker of such brands as Dos Equis XX, Bohemia and Sol. FEMSA now owns 20% of Heineken N.V. after the early 2010 all stock deal, becoming its largest shareholder after the Dutch family who owns 50.005%.
The FEMSA acquisition is expected to keep Heineken in its strong position by growing its market share in the Latin American markets. FEMSA has a massive distribution network and owns Mexico's largest convenience store chain OXXO, which has thousands of locations throughout the country.
Global structure 
Heineken organises the company into five territories which are then divided into regional operations. The regions are: Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, The Americas, Africa and the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. These territories contain 115 brewing plants in more than 65 countries, brewing local brands in addition to the Heineken brand.
Brewing plants 
Heineken's brewing plants have been designed and engineered in several parts of the world.
Africa and the Middle East 
Heineken has 16 breweries in Africa and the Middle East. These include:
- Al Ahram Beverages Company, Egypt
- Harar Brewery, Ethiopia
- Bralirwa, Rwanda
- Brarudi, Burundi
- Brasserie Almaza, Lebanon
- Brasseries de Bourbon, Réunion
- Brasseries du Cameroun, Cameroon
- Brasseries du Congo, Congo-Brazzaville
- Bralima, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Consolidated Breweries, Nigeria
- Groupe Castel Algérie, Algeria
- Guinness Ghana Breweries, Ghana
- General Investment, Jordan
- Namibia Breweries, Namibia
- Nigerian Breweries, Nigeria
- Société nouvelles des Brasseries SONOBRA, Tunisia
- Sierra Leone Brewery, Sierra Leone
- Sedibeng Brewery, South Africa
- S.A.R.L. Tango Brewery, Algeria
- Tempo Beer Industries, Israel
Asia Pacific 
- Cambodia Brewery Ltd (CBL) in Cambodia
- Shanghai Asia Pacific Brewery in China
- Hainan Asia Pacific Brewery Company Ltd in China
- Guangzhou Asia Pacific Brewery in China (under construction)
- Multi Bintang Indonesia in Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Breweries (Aurangabad) Limited in Aurangabad India
- Asia Pacific Breweries-Pearl Private Limited in Hyderabad India
- Heineken Kirin K. K. in Japan
- Lao Asia Pacific Brewery in Laos
- Guinness Anchor Berhad in Malaysia
- MCS-Asia Pacific Brewery LLC (MCS-APB) in Mongolia
- DB Breweries in New Zealand
- South Pacific Brewery Ltd (SPB) in Papua New Guinea
- Asia Pacific Breweries in Singapore
- Asia Pacific Brewery (Lanka) Limited (APB Lanka) in Sri Lanka
- Thai Asia Pacific Brewery in Thailand
- Vietnam Brewery in Vietnam
- Hatay Brewery in Vietnam
- Brau Union Österreich in Austria
- Syabar Brewing Company in Belarus
- Alken-Maes in Belgium
- Zagorka Brewery in Bulgaria
- Karlovačka pivovara in Croatia
- Starobrno in the Czech Republic
- Federation Breweries in Gateshead, England (closed 2010)
- H. P. Bulmer in Hereford in England
- John Smith's in Tadcaster, England
- Royal Brewery in Manchester, England
- HEINEKEN France in France
- Athenian Brewery in Greece
- Heineken Hungária in Hungary
- Heineken Ireland in Cork, Ireland
- Heineken Italia in Italy
- Dinal in Kazakhstan
- Pivara Skopje in Macedonia
- Heineken Nederland in the Netherlands
- Hansa Borg Bryggerier in Norway
- Żywiec Brewery in Poland
- Central de Cervejas in Portugal
- Heineken Romania in Romania
- Heineken Brewery LLC in Russia
- Pivara MB in Serbia
- Pivara Zaječar in Serbia
- Caledonian Brewery, Edinburgh, Scotland
- Heineken Slovensko in Slovakia
- Heineken España in Spain
- Heineken Switzerland in Switzerland
- Calanda Bräu in Switzerland
The Americas 
- Brasserie Nationale d'Haiti in Haiti
- Compañía de Cervecerías Unidas Argentina in Argentina
- Commonwealth Brewery in the Bahamas
- Cervejarias Kaiser in Brazil
- CCU Chile in Chile
- Cerveceria Costa Rica in Costa Rica
- Cervecería Nacional Dominicana in Dominican Republic
- Desnoes & Geddes in Jamaica
- Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in Mexico
- Cervecerías Barú-Panama, S.A. in Panama
- Windward & Leeward Brewery in Saint Lucia
- Surinaamse Brouwerij in Surinam
Beer brands 
Heineken International owns a worldwide portfolio of over 170 beer brands, mainly pale lager, though some other beer styles are produced. The two largest brands are Heineken and Amstel; though the portfolio includes Cruzcampo, Affligem, Żywiec, Starobrno, Zagorka, and Birra Moretti. Recently Heineken added a cider blend named Jillz to their list of brands. Since mid-2007, Heineken has also taken ownership of former S&N International brands such as Strongbow and Bulmers Ciders and John Smith's and Newcastle Brown Ale.
Heineken's main advertising slogan in the UK was "Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach", some of which featured voice-over narration by Danish comedian/pianist Victor Borge. The British TV campaign ran for over 30 years - stopping in 2005. From March 2011 they have been advertising using the song 'The Golden Age' by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. After the success of The Entrance, a web advert (4M views in YouTube), Heineken launched The Date in May 2011.
Heineken sponsors several sporting events. The Heineken Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out competition involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the Six Nations: England, France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Italy. Heineken has been the sponsor since the cup's inaugural tournament in 1996.
Holland Heineken House 
Heineken Experience 
The Heineken Experience is a museum about Heineken Pilsener and the Heineken brewery, based in the original brewery in Amsterdam. The building was built in 1867, and was in use as a brewery until 1988. In 1991, when part of the establishment was torn down, the Heineken Reception and Information Centre (Dutch: Heineken ontvangst- en informatiecentrum) was opened in the remaining building. In 2001 the name was changed to Heineken Experience.
The museum features "rides", interactive exhibits, and two bars. It also gives an insight into the company's history and brewing processes through the years. Visitors receive one small tasting glass and two full-sized glasses of Heineken beer to drink at the end of the tour, both paid for by the 16 euro entry fee.
The Experience closed for refurbishment in October 2007 and reopened December 2008.
Accusations of racism 
In the mid-1990s, Heineken sponsored a late-night youth culture and music show, Hotel Babylon. The company had planned a precise marketing strategy, and falsely believed that the show's audience would match their target group in its income distribution and degree of ethnic diversity.
A facsimile sent on 20 December 1995 from the company's sponsorship department in Amsterdam to the show's producers, Planet 24, explained that the demographics of the audience was not in line with the company's marketing strategy, that there was "too high [a] proportion of negroes." Bob Geldof, a founder and major shareholder in Planet 24, said Heineken could "go fuck themselves" as far as he was concerned. "I heard about the infamous fax and I hooted with derision. It is our programme, not Heineken's," he stated.
On January 4, 1996, Karel Vuursteen, then chief executive of Heineken worldwide reacted to the fax: "Having read the original, only one thing can be said about it: it should never have been written. ... it is totally against everything Heineken stands for. Heineken denounces all discrimination and will live up to that. I hope you can accept my sincere apology and I can assure you that proper steps will be taken to prevent recurrence."
Price fixing convictions 
On April 18, 2007 the European commission fined Heineken €219.3m, Grolsch €31.65m and Bavaria €22.85m for operating a price fixing cartel in the Netherlands, totalling €273.7m. InBev, (formerly Interbrew), escaped without a penalty because it provided "decisive information" about the cartel which operated between 1996 and 1999 and others in the EU market. The brewers controlled 95% of the Dutch market, with Heineken claiming a half and the three others 15% each.
Neelie Kroes said she was "very disappointed" that the collusion took place at the very highest (boardroom) level. She added, Heineken, Grolsch, Bavaria and InBev tried to cover their tracks by using code names and abbreviations for secret meetings to carve up the market for beer sold to supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and cafes. The price fixing extended to cheaper own-brand labels and rebates for bars.
|“||This is simply unacceptable: that major beer suppliers colluded to up prices and to carve up markets among themselves||”|
—EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes
See also 
- "Annual Report 2011". Heineken. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- "Profile - Annual Report 2007". heinekeninternational.com. Heineken International. Retrieved 2008-12-02.[dead link]
- "Heineken to acquire FEMSA Beer Business" (Press release). Heineken International. 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
- Countries and brands – Profile – Annual Report 2007
- Heineken International Heineken International - Profile
- Heineken International Breweries
- "Africa & the Middle East". heinekeninternational.com. Heineken. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
- "Asia Pacific". heinekeninternational.com. Heineken. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
- "Europe". heinekeninternational.com. Heineken. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
- "The Americas". heinekeninternational.com. Heineken. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
- "Heineken International Brands". heinekeninternational.com. Heineken International. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
- Heineken Logo: Design and History. FamousLogos.us. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
- Walsh, Dominic (2005-10-21). "Heineken calls last orders on television ads after 30 years". The Times (London). Retrieved 2010-05-04.
- Walsh, Dominic (2005-10-21). "Attempt to reach other parts with stronger beer". The Times (London). Retrieved 2010-05-04.
- Heineken lance The Date, sa nouvelle campagne virale sur le web
- Heineken International Heineken announces new UEFA Champions League
- "About Heineken Experience". heinekenexperience.com. Heineken Experience. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
- "Nederlandse Biermusea". michel-tencate.tmfweb.nl. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
- "About Heineken Experience". heinekenexperience.com. Heineken Experience. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
- Victor, Peter (1996-01-05). "The TV parts that black men can't reach". The Independent (London). Retrieved 2009-05-23.
- Gow, David (2007-04-18). "Heineken and Grolsch fined for price-fixing". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2007-08-01.