Marcel

"The trio’s timeline 1971: Jorge Paulo Lemann buys the Garantia broker dealer in Rio, with financing from private individuals 1976: Garantia earns a banking license with the Brazilian Central Bank 1982: Garantia partners acquire a controlling stake in Lojas Americanas, a retailer. Beto becomes its CEO 1989: Garantia partners acquire a controlling stake in Cervejaria Brahma, a beer brewing company. Marcel becomes its CEO 1998: Banco Garantia is sold to Credit Suisse First Boston. Most of its executives won’t work with the trio anymore on a full-time basis (although many remain co-investors in many of their deals) 1999: Brahma merges with (i.e., buys) Cervejaria Antartica, forming Ambev, Brazil’s largest beer brewing company 2004: The trio enters an agreement with Belgian giant Interbrew’s controlling shareholders where the two groups become controlling shareholders of Inbev, the resulting company 2008: Inbev buys Anheuser-Busch, America’s most iconic brewery, on the brink of the subprime mortgage crisis, forming Anheuser-Busch Inbev, AB Inbev, for short 2010: 3G Capital, the trio’s private equity firm, does its largest deal to date, buying Burger King from another private equity fund…"

"The best part of those first ten years heading Brahma had been taken by Marcel’s efforts to build an all-star team at the company. He would call them “The Few. The Proud,” in an allusion to the U.S. Marine Corps slogan."

"him: “It is extremely difficult to work with Marcel: he does what he wants, when he wants, with whom he wants. He has the genius of slicing up other people’s time into small pieces.”"

"in 1907, at the age of eighteen, Marcel informs him that he feels confined in Châteauroux and dreams of venturing to Paris, Louis gives this son—all of his chances as a prodigy, who knows? Still too young to live alone, Marcel will stay with his aunt, Mrs. Auguste Boussac, on Avenue du Maine. And to facilitate the launch of his enterprise, he will receive financial support. And what support! It is unclear whether it was granted to him immediately or after a period of probation, in full initially or progressively. In any case, Louis has the family reputation of having vouched for an opening credit of 400,000 gold francs for the beginner, which is nearly 3 million of our 1979 francs. That is a mark of trust that is not just an empty word! The key now is to make this talent flourish."

"The honeymoon between the “king of bleaching” and his disciple is at its peak. Those who get along like two brothers in business no longer part when it’s time to have fun. Léderlin, married to a Russian princess, Olga Skouratoff, a descendant of Boris Godunov, beautiful and ethereal but who he blithely neglects, leads the revelry with festivities going strong between Paris and the Vosges. Sparkling parties, nocturnal excursions, secretive gatherings: Marcel and Paul are inseparable."

"He discovered a passion: horse racing. In Châteauroux, he never misses one. In Paris, when his father takes him there, these are moments of revelation. On such occasions, the preparation of attire, for young Marcel, is not taken lightly. A photo shows him at fifteen, impeccably dressed in a neat and well-tailored suit with a vest, from which a gold watch chain is prominently hanging. Wearing a straw boater with a silk ribbon, his binocular strap slung over his shoulder, he poses with a very studied stance on a cane that is too tall for him."

"The younger brother, who joined the business before the war, is, according to unanimous opinion, a commercial genius, gifted with an extraordinary intuition, capable of telling at a glance of a sample how much can be sold. An excellent creator as well as a remarkable salesman, a stubborn worker, he is his brother’s great teammate in this policy that could have led others to ruin, the one who made it possible. Marcel’s leitmotif is: — I want more choice in my collections."

"When the beautiful and fiery Jeanne Boussac, yielding to the impulses of her heart and ambition, leaves, in 1892, her husband Louis and the provincial life of Châteauroux to share the brilliant existence of the famous poet, Catulle Mendès, in Paris, she abandons three little boys: Robert, five years old, Marcel three years old, and Raymond, barely a year old. Thus, the name of the woman who, just yesterday, was a wasp waist in a rustling dress, flitting on the lawn while holding her latest child, suddenly disappears from their babbles."

"Marcel is quite the opposite. If not aversion, at least no marked interest in knowledge. He won the gymnastics prize several years in a row, but that seems to be the extent of his scholastic laurels. He failed his baccalaureate and will almost make it a point of pride throughout his life. Hundreds of times he will recount this story, drawn here from a speech given in front of English turf enthusiasts [6](private://read/01jjdy9maqdsy9c2bv37rfja01/#bookmark6):"

"Marcel’s leitmotif is: — I want more choice in my collections."