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“SaveAB.com”
Years of population decline and job losses have instilled something of an embattled feeling in the citizens of St. Louis. We grimace as our hometown corporations are swallowed up by larger concerns, turning the Gateway City into something of a back-office town - something like Scranton, only with the Arch and without The Office. The collective St. Louis psyche has been most recently threatened by mounting speculation that the city’s signature corporate citizen, storied brewer Anheuser Busch, is the target of a takeover bid by Belgium-based InBev.
The news has moved local citizens to take action in the form of a petition website with a decidedly patriotic appeal: Save AB. They, the undersigned, say:
My fellow Americans,
Like baseball, apple pie, and ice cold beer (wrapped in a red, white and blue label), Anheuser Busch is an American original. Founded in St. Louis, Missouri, AB represents the spirit of our country, giving millions of Americans “the pursuit of happiness” through its high quality products and thousands of great paying jobs. Generations of Americans have grown up loving AB products and have appreciated its committment (sic) to our communities.
Now, our city, our state, our nation and our workers are being threatened with the loss of A-B to foreign investors.
With your help we can fight the foreign invasion of A-B. We will fight to protect this American treasure. We will take to the Internet, to the streets, to the marble halls of our capitals, whatever it takes to stop the invasion.
Join us and join the fight! Sign the on-line petition today. Sign up for a yard sign or bumper sticker.
Make your voice heard.
Because “This Bud’s for you and the U.S.A.!”
Yours in arms,
Concerned Americans
A WHOIS search indicates that Scott Leiendecker is listed as the registrant of the domain saveAB.com. Leiendecker is the Republican Elections Director for the city of St. Louis. The site appears to be hosted by a technology consulting firm called Miken Technologies, based in St. Louis.
As of this writing, twenty-one people have signed the petition.
This website is not to be confused with SaveBudweiser.com, a petition site of similar purpose which claims to have gathered 18,000 signatures. It is unknown who is behind that website.
Note: This website is not connected with the Save AB effort (though comments are welcome). Anyone who is interested in signing the petition, or in getting a yard sign or bumper sticker, should head for the petition registration page and sign up.
Addendum: Kevin Drum notes that Evan Newmark of the Wall Street Journal thinks that AB workers should welcome a foreign takeover with open arms:
InBev offers Anheuser Busch shareholders a lot of money and its employees a new-and-improved management team….And it’s a tight ship focused on cost-cutting and profits. Just like any company — American, Belgian or Brazilian should be.
I will yield the floor to Drum’s response:
Am I the only one who thinks workers are going to be less than reassured by the prospect of a “new-and-improved management team” that’s “focused on cost-cutting”?
Sounds like the shareholders will certainly be reassured, though.
Addendum: As of 7:13 am on Saturday, June 14, the number of signatures on the Save AB petition stands at 27196.
Bloomberg reports on one prominent figure who stands to profit handsomely from an InBev acquisition of AB:
Cindy McCain, the millionaire wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, may see her fortune increase with a proposed takeover of beermaker Anheuser- Busch Cos., financial disclosures show.
Cindy McCain, who has assets of at least $8.5 million, owned more than $1 million of Anheuser-Busch shares at the end of last year, according to a Senate disclosure form filed by her husband and released today. News of the $46.3 billion unsolicited bid from InBev NV has sent the company’s shares soaring, up about 17 percent from Dec. 31.
The exact size of the potential windfall is unknown because the financial forms require lawmakers and their spouses to list only ranges for the values of their assets, and one option is to simply say “over $1 million.” Messages left with McCain’s Senate office and campaign weren’t returned.
Writing for the St. Louis Beacon, Robert W. Steyer reports on InBev’s reputation as “a machete-wielding company”:
Just about anything you might want to know about InBev, the suitor for Anheuser-Busch, can be found in its name — a stripped-down, technocratic-sounding word that reflects a strategy for merging breweries and cutting costs.
“They are a bunch of machete-wielding investment bankers,” says Ann Gilpin, an analyst for the independent financial research firm Morningstar.
“InBev’s management is distinguished by its cost-cutting execution excellence,” says a recent report by the UBS investment bank, issued before InBev made its formal offer for Anheuser-Busch.
A story by Jeremiah McWilliams in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch states that a possible defense by AB - purchasing the remaining half of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo in order to make AB an prohibitively expensive acquisition for InBev - may not work, as Modelo doesn’t seem interested in selling.
(HT for original link to Arch City Chronicle.)
« « Mangosteen? | Not all the news that fits » »
There goes the King
Bowing to the inevitable?
As long as they’re in a buying mood
The gloves come off
My wife’s Starbucks is spared
Discussion
87 comments for ““SaveAB.com””
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budweiser means because you deserve what each individual should ever recieve. this bud for you. save budweiser it is as american as apple pie take the first letter from the words except for you and it spells budweiser
If Anheuser sells out that will be the last time I buy their products.
There will come a day when we will allow someone to come in and change our country’s name! This is rediculous! Everyone says “buy American made”, it gets harder and harder to even find these labels. They (AB) take our money and this is what they do? It’s all about the almighty dollar, never about their customers and the American people. Will this ever end.
It is rediculos to believe that for the greed of money, one of the last great enterprizes in our country can be sold to a foreign entity. Why not change our name to The European Owned States of America or is that also for sale?
i want a yard sign now!!!!!!
A long necked bud is a part of America!!!!!!!!!
Is Toyota buying GM next?
I want a Yard sign too.
UNBELIEVABLE! (A St.Louis Bud-Lite drinker)
I’m a 64 year old male, been drinking Budweiser since I was 19 years old, if the company is sold, an ice cold Bud will NEVER pass my lips again.
OMG!!! This is without a dout the worst thing i’ve heard. Will our country be for sale next?… I’m gonna be sick. GOD SAVE BUD!
W BUSH, LOSS OF JOBS,HIGH PRICES,CAN’T PAY FOR FOOD, GAS OUT THE ASS!! WHAT THE HELL NEXT!!! DONT SELL BUD!! COME ON THAT THE ONLY THING WE HAVE LEFT FOR GODS SAKE!!! we need stickers and posters!!!!!
this proposed sale needs to stop. Budweiser is “the Great American Lager”, Anheuser-Busch is the “Great American Company”!
The Busch family is an integral part of of our nation’s economic history. It is my sincere hope that they can rally against the foreign investor, together we can keep Bud strong, and most of all American.
HELL NO DONT SELL the usa has sold out all the other industrial businesses to the communist bastards so lets keep bud in the USA and say the hell to them
THIS is LONG overdue…THIS day coming..Welcome to rest of America..PRAY get decent buyouts, transfers, spinoffs, VEBA (vol.employ.ben.), etc.etc.IF IF ANY silver ling FINALLY FORCES LOT OF THE STUFF SHOULD HAVE BEEN Long done THOU finally when NO one can afford $200 pills, $200M heartoperations,etc.etc.etc.etc.
FINALLY reached land of ManKhild, Freakonomics, http://www.BLUEBRAIN.com (SEEDMAGAZINE, COMPUTING WORLD, Forbes. EPFL.), etc.etc.Soooryy guyz BUT is…
At our resort in Central America the only American Beer is Budweiser. It outsells the local beers two to one and since it has to be imported it costs more. Everyone knows the name, the quality, the flavor and the nation that brews it.
Who cares, Bud is the worst beer on the planet. I rather drink yak urine. Support your local micro-brewery, DUMP BUD!!!!!!
This is great news, here’s why : Bud is the only world-class beer that has never found a market outside the USA (think heineken, corolla, becks, etc.) and now with INBEV distribution muscle world-wide, beer drinkers eveywhere will be able to enjoy Budweiser, at last. This is fantastic - now I’ll be able to travel without having to switch beer. (Plus this means more sales and more jobs at AB). I say bring ‘em on !!
DO WHAT’S BEST FOR THE STOCKHOLDERS. AFTER ALL, THEY OWN THE COMPANY.POLITICOS SHOULD STAY THE HELL AWAY, AS EVERYTHING THEY DO GOES SOUR.
Did anyone think: “Maybe they’ll actually make the beer taste good”??
Stella, and nearly every other Belgian beer out there, blows Budweiser out of the very water it tastes like.
Budweiser is an American Icon, In these tough days of high gas prices by foreign pressure and this countries fight for freedom and the american way . We look to the towing letters AB and feel proud to be american and drink a great american Beer. God bless the US and AB !!
I am retired and a big portion of my retirement money is tyed up in AB stock. The imedeate impulse is to take their offer and run. BUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THEY RAPE THE cOMPANY? THE STOCK WILL GO TO HELL AND THERE WILL BE LITTLE OR NO DIVIDENDS. THERE GOES THE RETIREMENT INCOME OF THOUSANDS OF RETIRES. AND THERE GOES ANOTHER FINE COMPANY DOWN THE DRAIN.
This bud for you the Americans, not some outside interference. we have lost to many jobs to outsiders. keep AB American.God Bless America, God Bless AB
I want abumper sticker and yard sign now
I ASSUME IT WILL BE AN ALL CASH DEAL. IN THAT CASE YOU CAN GET A MUCH HIGHER YIELD THAN 2 PLUS PERCENT BY BUYING TAX FREE ETFS.WITH THEM YOU CAN GET A 5% YIELD.
Sites like that are really pointless, since this is a business matter, and the sole responsibility of the board of directors (at A-B or any other corporation) is to the shareholders. Not to the community. Not to the customers. To the shareholders.
The folks who set up savebudweiser.com are not shareholders. I am unsure whether Scott Leindecker is a shareholder or not. Either way, unless we, the public, go out and purchase A-B stock, we have absolutely no say in it.
I agee that this sale should not take place. I just wish people would get more upset over other companies taking jobs away from Americans. If a company decides it is cheaper from mexico or china, then stop buying that product. Be American and buy American.
maybe US lawmakers will wake up and LOWER corp TAX on USA companies to make us more competitive globally. wake up people, our law makers are taxing and spending us into oblivian.
BUD has an obligation to maximize shareholder value. PERIOD.
if you want to bitch about BUD selling out…bitch to washington dc and protest the taxes they invent each year…
American as apple pie?? AB stole the recipe and the process from Budweiser in Prague. The origional who’s slogan was “Budweiser a beer for Kings” and the origional bud won a huge monetary settlement from AB. So get real America and buy Sam Adams a true American beer that tastes better anyway.
When I heard this on the news this morning, I felt like I was insane! Could this really be happening?! I drive a Chevy truck…I ride a Tennesse Walking Horse…I smoke Marlboro cigarettes….Now what the hell am I gonna drink? ‘Cause I’ll NEVER drink a foreign beer! No matter where it’s brewed! We gotta put a stop to this! Think enough AMERICANS could chip in and buy it?!?! And as far as “responibility to it’s shareholders, not their customers”…guess what! Without customers…you have no business!!! And they will for sure lose at least this one….I wonder what a Miller tastes like????
SOME OF THE STUPID COMMENTS ON THIS WEB SITE LEAVE ME DUMBFOUNDED. THE SHAREHOLDERS OWN THIS COMPANY —NOT THE BEER GUZZLERS. I OWN THE STOCK AND HAVE FOR A LONG TIME, BUT I DRINK HEINEKEN AND CORONA BECAUSE I LIKE THE TASTE BETTER THAN BUD. THE COMPANY’S RESPONSIBILITY IS TO THE STOCK HOLDERS, NOT THE GUZZLERS.
I am sick and tired of “the stock holders” Their only concern is their pockets. Free market and free trade are fine. This country was built on the premise. However,
we must use out heads. Right now with the low dollar, America is for sale. Pretty soon outside interests will own the majority of our country’s top companies. There are a lot of folks who have over the years have put there life on the line defending our way of life and selling out is an insult to them. People like Stan could care a less unless it effects his life directly. I’d bet if the company Stan works for was in danger of being sold and his lively hood threatened he would be singing a different tune. All I know is I will not drink an AB product any longer if INBEV owns it.
I have enjoyed Budweiser all over the world. I always knew that it was a good American beer. If sold to a foreign company, I will never buy another one.
I do not understand why our government is allowing foreign countries to come in and buy up our businesses and real estate.
All you millionaires & billionaires that got your money because of this country should be ashamed of yourselves. if you think you can just sit back & let this happen like you wont be afected, you got another thing comming. here is a wake up call you are on planet earth, & there is no place to hide. you better wake up! if the little guys fall, you are going down with us. what comes around always goes around!
Site suggests we can get a yard sign to support, but no where can we click to order a yarde sign.
if bud sells out, I wont touch another A.B. product again, not gonna put my money into a foreigners pocket…I’ll switch to Miller before Coors before that happens
It’s digusting and pathetic to see brainwashed Americans defend an internationalist philosophy that seeks nothing less than their total subjection and enslavement to foreign financial and political interests. There is no concern here for the free-market. InBev and the WhoreStreel Journal aren’t principled men, defending some Lockean-Hayekian conception of the free-market and private property because they think it will protect personal liberty and freedom. Quit the opposite. They know, like Karl Marx (who was a supporter of free trade) that free markets are the Trojan horse by which they can undermine national sovereignty and create an international order to cement an international political order. Wake up, Americans! The WhoreStreet Journal is telling you InBev will be more efficient. That means their parasite management will fire people, close plants, and probably eventually change the product so they can please their banking masters and receive nice big bonuses in the end. Quit self-injecting the mind virus ideology! It’s killing you! Protect American-owned businesses and American jobs!
Stan - why is it that American companies don’t owe any allegiance to the country? I mean, I don’t understand - AB doesn’t owe any loyalty to the US, its workers, or the social contract that fostered the opportunity for companies like AB in the first place? The social contract is premised on the idea that we all give up a certain amount of freedom in exchange for others giving up the same so that we can coordinate competing interests under the rule of law. If you and others are going to promote a form of predatory capitalism that simply exploits economic perogative at the expense of community and jobs, then you’re undermining an important element of the social contract. If part of the justification for the social contract is coordinating competing interests, then the community has a right to curb the kind of hyper-selfishness you and your sick Ayn Rand corporate fascists think you are entitled to forcing on the rest of us. In short, you are declaring war on the rest of us to defend your 30 pieces of silver.
We need to keep AB here in St. Louis, too bad AB family members didn’t try to gain back more stock for the power! Also, go to KMOV webpage and look for the saveAB.com site to sign the petition and to register for bumper sticker.
In regard to those who think this is purely a matter between AB and its stockholders: if we follow your logic, companies like Bechtel and Lockheed Martin can be bought by Iranian or communist Chinese companies, too. Oh, I’m sure you’ll say these cases are different since there are “national security” issues that should prevent these sales to foreign entities that might seek to harm the US. But why should that matter? After all, according to your way of thinking, Bechtel and Lockheed Martin don’t owe anything to anyone but themselves and their stockholders. So heck, why not just auction off every American company who is willing to sell itself to the highest bidder, the country be damned? You people need to have your head - and heart - examined. Your killing this country with your shallow, short-term, self-interested way of thinking. As Ben Franklin said, “If we all don’t hand together we’ll surely hang alone.”
As a professed non-AB drinker, I find that I have no feelings either way…
However, in 2006, Anheuser-Busch paid InBev $82 million for Rolling Rock. The brewery, in Latrobe, PA was shuttered the next day and brewing operations were transferred.
What did those in the Latrobe area think of AB? Are their feelings/views any less important that those of AB supporters in St. Louis?
Personally, the fact that AB continues to try and break into niche markets with new products is mind-boggling to me. I recently tried a Michelob with ‘Lime & Cactus’ at a party -it was disgusting. As I find most flavored/fruity beers.
They should stick to what they’re good at… uhh, good as in the opinions of other’s beer tastes are concerned.
Weird to read that US citizens think that ‘national Icons’ should stay national. But where are you all when US companies buy foreign ones? Were’s the website to vote aganst the NYSE acquiring the Euronext? Wasn’t Volvo a Swedish Icon when Ford bought it? I am all in for a law that dictates to give each company back to the country of origin, but it would destroy the US economy. So if you accept to get rich by free, global trade, you also have to accept some of the downsides of that game. It is quite racist to accept the one without the other.
‘National icons staying national’
Indeed, Tata Motors (Mumbai, India) recently finalized a deal with Ford Motor Co. to acquire Jaguar/Land Rover…
The Jag as an Indian car… they (Tata) have said they will be developing an updated version of the XJS.
i knom not all rich people are bad. some of them have done alot to help America and the world. but those that dont because of greed of course they will they will get theirs. but because this is an American icon, $ the thought that someone would even think or say that they would send our CLYDESDALE to another country is what set me off. i mean how could we be sure that they would get their deserved pampering. got heart?
I’m not sure why it matters if American companies are buying foreign companies or if AB is guilty of predatory capitalism. Is the point that we should just roll over and dismantle what’s left of American companies to the highest bidder? Or, that American companies should continue to wreak havoc on other countries, too? I suppose the real issue here is the insidious nature of globalism. Friedman, and other cheerleaders for globalism, have ignored the human consequences of the emerging economic and political grid that will subjugate us all. Kudos to Greg Palast and Naomi Klein (No Logo and her latest book) for pulling the curtain back on the lies of globalism. That’s the ultimate issue here. Those that want to whitewash the human consequences of globalism need to convince us why we should buy into a system that will continue to send jobs oversees and undermine our national sovereignty.
Exceptional post, Jeff….
save ab for St. Louis
First of all I work for AB. What some of you are spouting is senseless knee jerk reactions. We, the workers are HAPPY with our jobs and our company!! We need our jobs too, just like you! August Busch does not want the company to fall into foreign hands, I am sure of that. This is a HOSTILE takeover, not a oh well lets get rich scheme. We are trying to buy another company to secure our hold (Modelo) so that we are too big for InBev to buy us. However some people feel like it is a decision left up to the shareholders and the board. We did not steal a recipe from Prague….do your homework…it is not even close….just a name dispute. Just remember this , We have always been AMERICAN owned, American brewed, and Americans are going to lose if this happens in a hostile takeover. I will lose too, and my family, and then next your family if the foreign investors keep taking a slice of us a piece at a time. St Louis is not the only brewery we have either, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Colorado, Virginia,California,Texas, Ohio, New hampshire. Think about all the associat4ed jobs at each of these breweries and the people it will hurt , then ….use your conscience. Thanks :)
In regards to an earlier post, I think Miller was purchased by a S. African company a few years ago.
Fair enough…. Budvar is a better product.
‘Reinheitsgebot,’ The Germany Purity Law of 1516 required that the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley, and hops.
Rice does not belong in a beer -mho, of course
Turn the table buy InBev instead they got the money
Please don’t send our favourite beer,and the famouse horse’s and the dalmation dog’s they are all a part of USA. Million’s of people grew up with this icon,and the good taste of Bud! So lets keep them here in the USA
I am not a drinker but a true out st.louisan. Please let us all rally together to stop the madness. We made it here and it will stay here!
Ugh, truly only Americans will do stuff like this.
Just cuz the owner will change doesnt mean the beer will, neither in shape nor taste or nything else for that matter.
Belgian beers have been praised all over the world to be the best, and yet you fail to comprehend that something that isnt American couldnt possibly be better then something that is.
Truly, only blatant stupidity follows from your way of thinking
Really shows one how ‘Free market capitalists’ change their tune when it suits them…
Let it be sold.
If they sell out to InBev or any other foreign faction, a huge piece of our American heritage will be sold with it.
For once do the right thing and don’t give in to greed, but what is really the right thing to do to keep jobs in our country. If this goes thru, jobs will be lost and it won’t be only those of the employees, there will be a huge ripple effect.
Please keep AB here!
So, in this one case only, do not give into greed…
The Busch family gave up controlling interest by taking the co. public which does what? You guessed it, makes them a lot of money, but comes with ‘this’ type of risk…
It’s the global economy, if shareholders see the opportunity to make some money on this and they (as a group) decide to sell, so be it.
We must realize in this modern economy that globalization cuts both ways.
What is going on. Is AB needing money that bad that they want to sell. Come on keep AB here where it belongs. St. Louis Mo. made a lot of money for you, now you want to leave.Bad Bad Bad
Yard signs, stickers, and for what. Overpaid and unskilled warehouse workers who have benefited (to A-B’s detriment) from exorbitant pay raises, pensions, and benefits? Why do you think the Busch family has sold all but 4% of their shares?
[Obama slur deleted by webmaster.]
The merger is unlikely, A-B will finish purchasing Mondelo and thwart inBev’s effort.
Mr. O’Malley’s comments not withstanding, I believe that the operator of this site would prefer it to remain apolitical…
which is why I’m not mentioning that the ‘Busch’ family includes several Bush ‘pioneers’ and ‘rangers,’ (individuals who have given large amounts of money to the Bush campaign)
Political’s okay, Brian, but I’d certainly like the comments here to remain respectful.
It’s a charged subject, but there’s no need for name-calling or ethnic slurs. Mr. O’Malley, please take note. More slurs like the one you attempted will be moderated.
INFORM THE RETIRED AB PEOPLE THAT THERE HEALTH BENIFITS ARE AT RISK. THIS IF A PRIME COST SAVING FOR A COST CUTTING COMPANY.
WARREN BUFFETT IS SHOWING HIS GREED. TIME TO BOYCOT THE COMPANIES THAT HE CONTROLS.
I prefer to think of it as Mr. Buffett exercising his business acumen and rights as a (majority) shareholder.
Damn the torpedoes and full-speed ahead with capitalism… unless of course it’s a company that a segment of the population feels some nebulous connection to…
It is true, the stockholders must decide what’s in the best inters for them. That is why I am pledging today to stop supporting the shareholders that agree to the sale.
They must know ahead of the vote what they will lose if they agree to make money on this sale.
I will also avoid Imbev products unless they pull their bid.
I will boycott anheuser busch if the sale goes through. We should find something sacred to the Belgians, buy it and turn it in to a Disney Park
I am frequently stunned with some of the comments I see on this subject…
quite frankly who cares we should be more worried why our dollar is so weak that a foreign company can come in and buy up a us company cause its affordable so you guys go drink another beer and wake up with a hangover wondering why you are walking around speaking spanish or mandarin cause our lousy politicians sold your asses out a while back
CHEERS
Yet another excellent observation…. thank you, Patrick.
I wonder how many who have posted here ‘bemoaning’ the pending buy-out (think it’s likely…) voted for George Bush and are aware of the circumstances that have gotten us to this point.
Bush’s failed invasion of Iraq, with the precipitous effect it has had on the U.S. economy, have allowed the dollar to fall through the floor -and other currencies to rise against it, in effect, enriching InBev’s bid for this buyout.
Our ‘war’ is being financed by Asia. The Swiss financial firm, UBS is snickeringly referred to as ‘Union Bank of Singapore’ as a result of the acquisition of some of their non-secured debt by Asian banks.
If you voted for George Bush, stop complaining about the InBev deal… and possibly learn from your mistakes… vote more wisely.
Mizpah and out…
People please quit whining and take action! The board HAS to listen to money, so they MUST act in shareholders’ interest. The only way to stop this nonsense is to go out and buy A-B stock to de-valuate InBev’s offer even further– hopefully with an understanding that the company will not be sold off. Otherwise we are all whining to a wall with no ears. InBev has alimited amount of money. As you see on the chart, the price is rising fast. At some point, they will not be able to afford this American company. As you all know, InBev is trying to shake a little candy money before us because we are hurting right now. If we keep selling things at this rate, non of us will be able to get assets; you see what’s happening. Organize and talk to people in charge to figure out how we can get back American assets and jobs and stop this spiraling nightmare while we have a chance still– and I’m not just talking about AB either. BTW, I don’t even drink beer, but I believe in what A-B stands for even if they say it’s not the best beer.
I look at A-B is not the best player on the team, but it is OUR guy so we gotta support them like you’d support family- American Family. Doing nothing will surely cause this company to walk.
How can they think of selling to a company overseas. We know how companies dealing with China made out!!!!.I will never buy another product if they sell.Gone will be an American institute..
Just as I was on June 21st, I continue to be stunned by comments on this blog…
Marilyn, it looks like you double-posted. No problem; I’ve removed the duplicate comment.
We need to take America back from foreign money and products. Do not sell out AB. It belongs to US. I am a proud American who feels that we are being sold out. Including by Warren Buffett. How can loosing jobs be good for the America eccomony? It is about time that the whole country to join together to stop something that will hurt us. {It hurt when I found out the majority of our flags are made in China.} After AB should we sell the White House!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was going to offer a comment up but feel the gist would be lost…
I don’t know, Brian; I read your earlier comment and thought it made a good point. The kinds of cost-savings measures we’ve seen AB make in response to the InBev bid are things that should arguably been done as a matter of course. Those theme parks, for example - twelve counting Busch Gardens and SeaWorld, and another four planned for Dubai (!) - I’ve always thought they should have been jettisoned in exchange for a tighter focus. AB’s current vulnerability is partly, I think, a result of this type of fuzziness.
Martin Cauley took (referenced above) Warren Buffett to task for “..showing his greed.”
This comment bothered me and now I’m wondering if he meant the same Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway who is giving $31B (yes, as in billion) in stock to the Gates Foundation, a philanthropic organization committed to easing world hunger, health and education?
How can you call this man greedy? All because you don’t want your can of Bud Light to say ‘brewed by InBev Breweries’ on the side?
Seriously, I would rethink my priorities if I were you…
Diversification at the brewery (meaning in acquisition…) has resulted in a ‘watered-down’ (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun and let’s remember what beer we’re talking about here…:) product, er, um, corporation.
AB should not be attempting to cut into the microbrewery market. Microbrew drinkers like myself have too much loyalty to their favorites to entertain the idea of a poor knock-off, and, as Phil mentioned, what are they doing owning amusement parks?
I’m one who seriously questions the abilities of August Busch IV, look him up on wikipedia and see what he gets up to for fun… it’s rather unlikely he would be running the company if not for nepotism.
please forgive my typo in the above post, should have read:
“…it’s rather unlikely he would be running the company if it were not for nepotism..”
Brian - I encourage you and everyone else to do a bit of research on the Gates Foundation. In the area of vaccine research, why is it that the foundation requires those that receive grants to release any patent rights? And what about the claim that for every 10 dollars in money given, the government loses 4 dollars in taxes? Given the way Gates allowed his workers to be treated, especially in the debacle of “contract” workers that led to a lawsuit, I’m not willing to assume there aren’t other motives here for regarding their “generosity.” Call me cynical, but Rockefeller and Carnegie didn’t build universities and create foundations out of the goodness of their respective hearts. Besides, the charity scam is an old one: who can criticize Buffet when he’s doing soooooo much for the poor? Come on — Dickens couldn’t write this stuff.
Point taken, Allen. I think the entire discussion on this blog is illustrative of people not having accurate information…
as I understand it, AB is now being sold…
My wife is a professor of pharmacology… I do not know that I have any issues as regards pharma and their development of drugs related to any measures of the Gates Foundation.
Big pharma spends much more on advertising (”…tell your doctor that you want prescription X”) than it does on R & D; and while I’m no fan of Bill Gates (being an ‘iDude’) I think it a bit extreme that any initiative of the Gates Foundation will have the sole benefit of enriching those behind it… perhaps I’m not enough of a cynic…
I encourage you and everyone else to do a bit of research on the Gates Foundation. In the area of vaccine research, why is it that the foundation requires those that receive grants to release any patent rights?
The Gates Foundation requires no such thing.
The terms of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise merely require participating researchers to pool data and share results, the better to develop a working vaccine more quickly:
A Kaiser Family Foundation report relays a reaction from a Wall Street Journal article:
A Seattle Times article on the vaccine initiative reports that “individuals can patent breakthroughs.”
Here’s an article that doesn’t paint as quite a rosy picture:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Gates’ father was head of Planned Parenthood, the modern day incarnation of eugenicist Margaret Sanger’s ideas. It’s hard to believe Gates is concerned about the poor in Africa. Interesting how the patterns of HIV follow exactly the pattern of polio vaccinations under the auspices of WHO. What sorts of medical research is being conducted on Africans today under the auspices of the Gates Foundation?
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/may/03050902.html
Following a cursory glance at the above referenced website, I would be weary of ascribing too much relevance to the article in question…
to does who are often ’stunned’ on this board:
the reason you keep getting stunned is because you might be profiting and you are out of touch with what is going on. yes, this is capitalism and to some degree, this would be a calculated risk that should make money, as AB should not go bankrupt after the buyout. However, there is a human side of things. This is rude and a slap in the face to our economy to allow something like this to happen before out very eyes. At some point, you and everyone, need to draw the line and say I’m not going to [throw my grandma under the bus] — I think that’s the phrase going around these days– and actually work. Trading stocks and figuring out how to get money out of other people without actually doing something that you can stand in front of a crowd of struggling ‘folk, is not working my friend. I figure that is what people who just don’t understand that this was a bad idea are doing. Completely out of touch with what matters in life. A deal like this hurts in more than a financial way. You should see that. If not you should think about why you do not. I’m not trying to insult you, I’m just trying to explain what is obvious to so many other people. If you don’t believe me, ask the people here. go ahead ask! Sometimes it’s not all about the money. Sometimes you need to give back and help your fellow man and woman and not thing about yourself as much. If I am completely wrong about this I apologize, but having seen a relative do the same that’s the best I can attribute this to. If it’s something else, please enlighten me and everyone else on this board.
Well, wading through the, at times, incoherency of your post, I think I understand what it was you were trying to say.
I for one have no stake in the AB deal, nor do I have any first hand experience in the business world -yet I see it as an example of the Republican business model (and ethics) coming full circle.
The Busch family sold out long ago –hence the reason that Barclays Global now holds the highest number of shares, followed by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire-Hathaway.
Did AB care about the truck drivers for the beer distributorships? Don’t I remember something about the brewery helping the distributors to bust the unions? What of the aforementioned deal with Rolling Rock of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, did employees of that brewery lose their jobs when AB bought the company? Something to ponder…
As to the operations in St. Louis, there is a fair amount of executive dead-weight at the brewery… and why does AB own eight corporate jets, including a Dassault Falcon 7x aircraft, which retails for $40 million? Not to mention the operational expenses of eight business aircraft.
Can the executives not fly business class like most other corporate employees?
As to the brewery itself, I believe it remains to be seen whether they will cease those operations locally.
I used to fly in the Reserves and I flew with a guy whose stepfather was an AB exec. This gentleman once said –parroting his step-dad- that they should get rid of the autoworkers union so car prices would come down(!?). I knew that no one in organized labor would believe something so absurd and it gave me pause to think about the type of people running corporations in this country.
On a personal level, St. Louis still has a ‘hometown’ brewery, Schlafly Beer –which is not an ‘adjunct beer’ and is not going anywhere…
Brian - The article is simply taken from a PBS interview with Bill Gates. The interview is linked at the bottom of the page. Unless you think PBS is not trustworthy, I don’t see what is so controversial about the claim that Gates’ father was head of Planned Parenthood. He admits as much. As for the eugenics angle, those interested can read up on Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood.
For purposes of edification…
I referenced the ‘website’ in my post -not the article…
Further edification: Planned Parenthood does MUCH more than provide abortions, They provide breast exams, gynecological exams and contraception (hey, still a better alternative than abortion..) to low-income and poor women in this country. This fact is FREQUENTLY overlooked when the pro-life groups and conservative politicians discuss the organization.
I have absolutely no issues with Bill Gates Sr. having been the head of Planned Parenthood. I happen to know that he firmly opposes a repeal of the estate tax -’Death tax’ to types like Jim Talent and his ilk- and, in so doing, giving him all the gravitas he needs where I’m concerned.
As an active Christian who has for far too long noticed that many in the so-called ‘Pro-life’ movement are in actuality, ‘Pro-life until birth;’ whereby they care for the life until it is born, i.e.; not wanting that ‘life’ to receive any state aid. With actions like this, I have a hard time taking the people who blindly support the movement seriously.
Wasn’t Colonel Green involved in the Eugenics Wars?
Addendum
On the contrary, I find that only PBS and NPR are trustworthy sources for news in this country…
No ’shareholders’ to lean on the coverage of certain issues. While there are sometimes complaints against positive coverage of Palestinian issues on NPR, it is nowhere near the level of publicly held news organizations.
Whoa! Fancy new type….
In future, before you post about how the AB sale is wrong, un-American, whatever; look up the term ‘Free market…’ if you’re still unhappy, let me warn you that many people in America vote foolishly, I mean… vote Republican, against their own interests; this means that they derive little if any benefit from the policies they are helping to enact.
Republicans held the executive and legislative branches for six of president Bush’s eight years in office.
Wow! Seems to me that for all of the talk they should have overturned Roe vs. Wade (a woman’s right to an abortion to some of you…) in that time, no?
Fearless leader said on Monday that the Democrats were responsible for the state of the economy and oil prices… what party has held power for six years again? Hmm… the thing is, some people are stupid enough to believe Bush.
Hell, they may know nothing about politics but just ask them who their favorite ‘American Idol’ contestant is and wait for their depth of knowledge about the contestant to spring forth…
Side note: strike-through does not seem to be enabled, Phil