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==Controversies== {{criticism section|section|date=March 2021}} ===Possible ties to the slave plantations=== On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought De Hooiberg (the Haystack) brewery in Amsterdam.<ref>{{cite web |title=Purchase contract for the Haystack from February 15, 1864 |url=https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/scans/5075/555.1.16/start/160/limit/10/highlight/7 |access-date=22 October 2021 |website=Amsterdam archive}}</ref> It remains unclear whether the funds for the purchase of the Haystack came from his father, a cheese trader, or his mother, whose estate included proceeds from her previous husband’s family’s historical investments in West Indies slave plantations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smit |first1=Barbara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qz6eAwAAQBAJ |title=The Heineken Story The Remarkably Refreshing Tale of the Beer that Conquered the World |date=2014 |publisher=Profile Books |isbn=9781782831136 |access-date=22 October 2021}}</ref><ref name="Tortoise">{{cite web |last1=Pagnamenta |first1=Robin |date=9 July 2021 |title=From slave plantations to pitchside advertising |url=https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2021/07/09/from-slave-plantations-to-pitchside-advertising/ |access-date=22 October 2021 |website=Tortoise Media |quote=“Cornelis and Anna went on to have four children. Their second, Gerard, born in 1841, was their first son. At this time epidemics ravaged Dutch towns, and only three of the family’s children made it to adulthood. They were brought up to honour hard work and Gerard grew into an industrious young man, ‘with a sense of adventure and a good heart’. When his father passed away in 1862, Gerard, then just twenty-one, could easily have spent the rest of his days living from the family fortune. Instead, he left the cheese trade to other family members and searched for a way to make his own name. In June 1863 he spotted a brewery for sale not far from the family home.}}</ref> In a letter to his mother 18 June 1863, Gerard discussed the potential Haystack purchase and his plans for the future. Gerard’s mother, Anna Geertruida van de Paauw, came to own shares in slave plantations in [[Berbice]] (modern day Guyana) and Suriname through her first marriage in 1829 to Pieter Jacob Schumacher van Oudorp (1804–1833)<ref>{{cite web |title=Plantation Schumachers Lust - Berbice Guyana - 1817 Slave Register P1 |url=https://issuu.com/mhewson/docs/plantation_20schumachers_20lust_20-_20berbice_20gu |access-date=22 October 2021 |website=Issuu|date=6 November 2020 }}</ref> who died in 1833. The Schumacher family owned several plantations in Berbice and Suriname, according to records held at the UK’s National Archive.<ref>{{cite web |title=Plantation Schumachers Lust - Berbice Guyana - 1817 Slave Register P2 |url=https://issuu.com/mhewson/docs/plantation_20schumachers_20lust_20-_42e86730de82c7 |access-date=22 October 2021 |website=Issuu|date=6 November 2020 }}</ref> After Pieter Schumacher died, Anna was remarried to Cornelis Heineken and had four children, one of which was Gerard Heineken. Anna died in 1881.<ref name="Tortoise" /> ===Price fixing=== On 18 April 2007 the [[European Commission]] fined Heineken €219.3m, [[Grolsch]] €31.65m and [[Bavaria Brewery (Netherlands)|Bavaria]] €22.85m for operating a [[cartel|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.<ref name="beer">{{Cite news |last=Gow |first=David |date=18 April 2007 |title=Heineken and Grolsch fined for price-fixing |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2059542,00.html |access-date=1 August 2007}}</ref> [[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 [[Store brand|own-brand]] labels and [[Rebate (marketing)|rebates]] for bars.<ref name="beer" /> In 2004 Heineken and [[Kronenbourg]] (then part of [[Scottish and Newcastle]]), the two dominant brewers in France, were fined €2.5m – with the penalty reduced for co-operating.<ref name="beer" /> {{Blockquote|text=This is simply unacceptable: that major beer suppliers colluded to up prices and to carve up markets among themselves<ref name="beer" />|author=Neelie Kroes, EU Competition Commissioner}} ===Fake craft beers=== In [[Ireland]], Heineken briefly marketed "Blasket Blonde" in [[County Kerry]] from March 2015 to September 2016, and ''Beanntraí Bru'' in parts of [[County Cork]] in August 2016, as locally-made [[craft beers]], from invented breweries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=C&C & Heineken Ireland under investigation |url=https://www.drinksindustryireland.ie/cc-heineken-ireland-under-investigation/ |work=Drinks Industry Ireland}}</ref> ===Investments in Russia=== At the end of March 2022, over a month after Russia started its war in Ukraine, Heineken announced that it was leaving Russia (including with its other brands there, like [[Heineken_brands#Affligem_Brewery|Affligem]], [[Amstel Brewery|Amstel]] etc.), saying that ownership of the Russian subsidiary was no longer “durable or viable.” But despite this promise Heineken hired more than 240 new staff and launched 61 new products on the Russian market in the last year,{{clarify|date=February 2024}} investigators from ''Follow the Money''<ref>Follow the Money (FTM) is a Dutch independent news website for financial-economic investigative journalism of approximately thirty journalists – some employed, some freelancers. See [[:nl:Follow the Money|Follow the Money]] on the Dutch Wikipedia, or their [https://www.ftm.nl/ website] (in Dutch).]</ref> reported, based on an overview of 2022 by Heineken Russia. The Dutch brewer's Russian subsidiary looked back on “a turbulent year, with many new growth opportunities.” One of these opportunities being the departure of [[The Coca-Cola Company|Coca-Cola]] and [[PepsiCo|Pepsi]] from Russia, which Heineken "cynically" used to "enter the non-alcoholic carbonated beverage market". Heineken announced more investments for 2023, including more modern packaging and new flavors.<ref>[https://nltimes.nl/2023/02/21/heineken-still-investing-russia-despite-promises-stop Heineken still investing in Russia despite promises to stop], ''NL-Times'', 21 February 2023.</ref><ref>[https://nos.nl/artikel/2464718-heineken-investeert-nog-steeds-in-rusland 'Heineken investeert nog steeds in Rusland'], ''NOS Nieuws'', 21 February 2023.</ref><ref>[https://www.ftm.nl/artikelen/ondanks-beloften-investeert-heineken-in-rusland Heineken breekt belofte en investeert toch in Rusland ('Heineken breaks promise and (continues to) invest in Russia')], ''Follow the Money'', 21 February 2023.</ref> New products launched in Russia included an Irish stout, replacing [[Guinness]] (which had been brewed and sold by Heineken, under licence), after [[Diageo]] withdrew from Russia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businesspost.ie/news/heineken-launched-stout-to-replace-guinness-for-russian-market/|title=Heineken launched stout to replace Guinness for Russian market|last=Rogan|first=Aaron|work=Business Post|date=25 February 2023|access-date=27 February 2023}}</ref> In August 2023, Heineken announced the sale of its Russian subsidiary to the [[Arnest Group]] for €1 plus a €100 million commitment to repay domestic debt.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.ru/biznes/495208-heineken-prodal-svoi-aktivy-v-rossii|title=Heineken продал свои активы в России|language=ru|date=25 August 2023|website=Forbes.ru}}</ref>
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