Anheuser-Busch being sold to InBev for $52B?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_bi_ge/anheuser_busch_inbev

Geesh Budweiser sure didn't care about tradition and being a USA owned company what about all their commercials talking about generations of Americans owning Budweiser

Answer 1

Shareholders wanted to sell. Budweiser isn't a person so try not to personify it as such.

Answer 2

Eh.  Fuggitaboutit.   I already drink Hoegaarden n Stella... which are both InBev.

And ill still drink my Bud just the same.

Answer 3

My vary problem. If they sell I will go to another beer. Almost enough to make a man sick. What beer will be left for the American.

Answer 4

So what, its all about money

there really are no companies that are 100 percent american unless it is a private company and every owner is a USA citizen. A company can be headquartered in the USA but that does not make them USA owned.

Any body could buy their stock and so there were probably non americans and non american companies that owned some of the stock before this.

Once a company goes public the owners really have no say in it unless there the majority owner of the stock and anybody could buy up the company if they wanted if they brought all available stock.

None of the fortune 500 companies or any real big company is private; look at Microsoft, At&t, Verizon Wireless, Apple. Exon, Johnson & Johnson etc. all have stock holders who are not American. Verizon Wireless is 45 % owned by a British company.

Its not like InBev is going to discontinue the beer, or change the recipe that would be stupid on them since they just paid 52 billion on the company. They may introduce some new beers or start shipping there current beers to the USA but thats about it.

Answer 5

Much ado about nothing...they'll still make Budweiser just the way it's always been made.  Given that it enjoys the market share of the US domestic beer market, their shareholders would scream if they didn't.

Hate to point this out, but a publicly traded company is beholden to the stockholders (the people that actually own the company).  The world is a very small place.

Answer 6

I know there was a big rally awhile  ago to save Budweiser too.

I guess management sold out then.  I guess we will have to either drink it or not.

Answer 7

If you were that concerned about buying from American owned companies...you wouldn't shop at Wal-Mart and Target. You wouldn't drive a Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, Chevy, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai...h**l you probably wouldn't drive a car since the majority of parts in all of them are made elsewhere...and you'd be buying your beer from your most local microbrewery who employees people from your community, pays taxes that support your community and most likely donates to organizations in your community.

AB has been a publicly traded company for decades...it hasn't been "American" since. It has had foreign investors making profits off of its sales for decades.

Answer 8

We can same all the same things about the chocolate companies. Nestle is a Swiss company etc. But this is close to us. In addition A-B was the last of the long held American family ran brewers. Now the family running it/them is foreign. Very sad. I doubt they invest in charities in the way A-B did. Time to raise up our large craft brewers to mega star status.

Anheuser-Busch like no other American brewer was iconic. The history, association, and what they have done for the people are in charity is unequaled in their industry. Many people grew up drinking their beers. They have taken pride in the "American" theme. But this is gone. They are no long uniquly American. And the reality of the pending world domination of several mega corps presses on. InBev has a wild past of cut & burn. They slash jobs when ever they merge of buy out a business. On the flip side we have stsrted over builing new iconic names in the craft industry.

Answer 9

Does it really matter?  Its not as if its a great beer anyway,  it can only get better.