Friday bullets

• Exame published a fascinating inside look at how Brazilian executives are reshaping Anheuser-Busch, maker of America's most famous beer -- Budweiser. Apparently, InBev has been rather vicious in its cost-cutting maneuvers since purchasing the the company for 52 billion dollars last year. It will be interesting to see if the Dutch-Brazilian conglomerate can make AB a success, in the face of having to fire 1400 people - including 14 of its 17 top executives, delaying payment to suppliers from 30 to 120 days, and generally making other tough business decisions, while certainly pissing off a lot of people.

• Exame also has an article (in Portuguese) about the hot Brazilian real estate sector. Many people are buying simply for investment purposes. "In the 463 square foot apartments of the Affinity, a building in the Sao Paulo neighborhood of Vila Olimpia, the only bed that fits is a double bed and the kitchen is located in the same environment as the living room and bedroom. Still, almost all the units have been sold, each one for R$ 300,000. (US$ 170,000)."

• Construction and manufacturing will most likely drive Brazilian employment in 2010, amid the promise of generating 2 million new jobs and growing GDP by 5.8%, according to this analysis by Michele Loureiro at Brasil Econômico.

•  Despite its problems in the US, GM announced it will invest R$ 1.4 billion (US$ 778 million) to modernize and expand two plants in the state of Sao Paulo.