-Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito finally convinced SABMiller to sell itself, for $104 billion. If the deal closes – regulatory approvals will take months – it will be one of the biggest deals ever, and AB InBev, already the biggest brewer ever, will be a whole lot bigger. The move is certainly bold, but it's also worrisome. That's because global beer consumption is shrinking, and this merger is mostly a move to give AB InBev sufficient scale to raise prices and cut costs. Brito is putting a staggering sum of new capital into this grindingly competitive business, and his ability to earn a return that beats his cost of capital – the most fundamental measure of business success – will be put to the test like never before. Investors would feel a lot more comfortable if he could also articulate a plan to get the world loving beer again. It ought to be possible. As he likes to say, beer is the original social network.