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Definition

A company which has almost 100% of a particular market. True monopolies almost never exist in capitalist economies. There are always competitors and substitutes which prevent companies from gaining excessive pricing power. The advent of the Competition Commission and the anti-trust legislation in the country meant that many of the near monopolies and oligopolies of the old South Africa have been broken up or prevented from following anti-competitive policies. Probably, SA Breweries (which is now a subsidiary of AB InBev) has come as close to a monopoly as it is possible to get in South Africa, in the beer market. About 87% of all beer sold in this country is produced by them. AB InBev is itself, after the acquisition of SA Breweries for $106bn became a world near monopoly, being the largest beer company by a very wide margin and operating in almost every country.

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