Anheuser-Busch Tells InBev To Stick Its Buyout Offer: Source

Anheuser-Busch's board of directors will reject Belgian beverage giant InBev's $65-a-share takeover bid, a source told the New York Times. The rejection was expected, as members of the Busch family, U.S. politicians and citizens of St. Louis, where Anheuser-Busch is based, all made it clear they opposed the buyout.

The decision, however, does not signal an end to the drama over suds in St. Louis. To keep away of InBev, Anheuser-Busch will have to step lively:

In an effort to justify rejecting InBev's $65-a-share bid, Anheuser-Busch is expected to announce an extensive reorganization aimed at bolstering profits that will include cutting more than $500 million in costs, these people said.

The savings will come from reducing marketing expenses and possibly shedding assets like its Busch Gardens theme park business and its packaging unit. The reorganization, which is expected to include scores of job cuts, may anger some residents and politicians in St. Louis, where the company's headquarters is located, who had been pressing Anheuser-Busch to reject the bid in part to save local jobs.

In addition to average shareholders, the American beer company will have to justify its decision to people like Warren Buffett, reportedly Anheuser's second-largest shareholder. Buffett hasn't said publicly what he thinks Anheuser should do, but his Berkshire Hathaway stands to make a great profit from an InBev takeover and likely won't stay silent forever.

Read the rest of the New York Times story for more.

Comments

[Fl Law Student]

Yeah InBev.... take your damn waffles and shove 'em.......

belgian waffles are not freedom waffles....

[xujojo]

When John McSame is President, his first act will be to veto the beer!

[eugenegerard]

It's not the beer that is giving you the headaches. It's the Clydesdale piss.

[loki]

Good that AB is fighting to keep it here. AB is the worlds largest and best selling label ever, and it could be severely damaged if someone like InBev, who makes that beer that taste like its been drank and puked back into the bottle, some with chunks in it still. At least AB makes tasty beers that the majority of the worlds population wants. Unlike the puke beers that a few people who would probably eat horse dung and enjoy it do.

[loki]

Hey, I remember the Soulard area around the brewery in St. Louis. Great party area, nice old houses. I just didnt like the smell that the brewery puts off all the time. Besides that , its a nice area right off 55 next to the brewery.. Now you may ask why I say that? Look at the Bud light tap handle in the picture. Those are only in the Soulard district that I know of.

[loki]

looks like there is still one company left in the US that is still a little patriotic to the US. Busch doesnt outsource or move many of its jobs to other countries , unless they set up plants to serve those countries. At least not that I have ever read or heard. Most AB products you drink here, are made here. cant say that about many of the other so called US corporations. Unpatriotic scum who offshore for profit only, not for any sense of loyalty of duty to their country.

Hey, if it works for Bush and his invasion of Iraq, why not make it work against corporations that outsource American jobs, or bring in illegal labor to take American jobs and lower wages? I dont think you can get much more unpatriotic than that, can you?

[Synoia]

This is a ritual:

"Will you marry me"
"No, the diamond is too small. Now we'll have to fire 5,000 workers to pay off the sharholders"
"Ok, here's a bigger diamond, will you marry me"
"Yes, I supose so. Now we'll have to fire 10,000 workers to pay for that diamond"

Who's really winning here?

[IowaGirl]

I forgot to say that even non-shareholders such as myself would be pleased as punch if InBev bought AB out. That way we might get better access to the quality Belgian beers they distribute, such as Leffe.

A girl can dream.

[loki]

why dont InBev just use some of that buy out money to import the beer then? It would be cheaper wouldnt it?

[DelvinMcGee]

InBev made a deal with A-B in December of 2007 to market and distribute all of the European beers in the US, including Leffe.

[IowaGirl]

It would be easier to root for AB if they didn't make such swill for "beer." It is rice water, laden with preservatives, as others have pointed out. It has next to nothing to do with what real beer tastes like. People may buy it but all that proves is that people are sheeple. They buy what marketers tell them to, what their fathers drank, and what's available at the local taphouse. Minus those factors and presented with better beer, I'd like to think that perceptive people would go for real beer. AB has made several fortunes passing this stuff off to the public. It is one of the crimes of the American Century (only half-kidding, here!).

[loki]

Most YouraPeon beers taste like someone has already drank it and puked it back into the bottle anyway. No wonder AB is the largest selling beer in the world. It actually taste like it hasnt been drank already

[DelvinMcGee]

Ah, no. AB is a company, and not "the largest selling beer in the world". The largest beer brewer in the world is InBev.

[JohnBarleycorn]

Bud is crap beer. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an ignorant Philistine with all of the beer IQ of a common dust mite.

That said, as a shareholder, I *will* be quite angry if this matter is not settled to my personal benefit.

Time to get Warren B. on the phone!

[loki]

Now thats the American spirit for you. Insult people because they dont like the same beer you do, and then sell out the workers of America for your own personal profit.
Hurray American style Capitalism!! Its what makes American the selfish greedy unpatriotic narcissistic dung heap we have become.

[DelvinMcGee]

you might be dumb as a rock. American workers will still churn out Bud at American plants.

[vietveter]

If Bud is so bad then why do so many people drink it?

Isn't it #1 in the world in sales?

I am glad that Bud will remain in US hands.

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

Touche!..and Ditto!

[ManassasMan]

...and didn't 59 million Americans vote for our Commander-in-Chief? How dumb is THAT?

[loki]

I agree, if Bud is so bad, wouldnt it be a horrible investment for InBev? Why buy such a rotten product that is, according to some here, hated by the world and only drank by lower class scum? Id say InBev has really poor business mindset and this would be a terrible business transaction for them. it could destroy their business . If you believe some of those here who think that if the world doesnt think, breath, eat, shat, or do as they do, they are low class scum.

[metropixie]

Where does it say Bud's bad fo' ya? InBev wants to buy it for market gain, to get your other brands into distribution. Bud's not #1 in the world. It is in the US. SABMiller became the largest brewing company in the world when it acquired Grolsch, the Dutch beer brand. InBev is the second-largest beer-producing company in the world. Anheuser-Busch holds the third spot. Not everyone outside the US likes Budweiser. Germans call it Spülwasser, or "dishwater." MThe biggest complaint about Bud is that it gives an instant headache. Budweiser cannot be sold in the Czech republic where the original Budweiser Budvar factory operates on which the American knock-off was based. Today, Budvar sells "Budvar" in the US and Anheuser-Busch sells "Bud" (not Budweiser) in Europe. Czechs are also the world's leading beer drinkers, downing more than 160 liters a year, ahead of the Germans with 126 liters. The Germans are by law (Reinheits-Gebot) required to only produce "clean" beer without chemicals. You may be "glad" Bud will remain in US, but may be naive patriotism as in the world of business, ultimately cash is king, not beer.

[DelvinMcGee]

There are many inaccuracies in this post. First, InBev is already the largest brewer in the world by volume. Next, American Budweiser predates Czech Budvar by over 20 years. lastly, AB already distributes all InBev European beers, a deal made in Dec of 2006.

[rh654]

I just love watching the good Free Market Capitalists cry in the beer about AB maybe being taken over by a foreign company.

Great Stuff!

[torrrep]

Free market means people people can reject an offer. Who's crying?

[Tabasco]

Good. I hope Anheuser-Busch continues to lose sales. That way a respectable brewing company can buy it out even cheaper in the future.

What they call 'beer' is a headache-inducing, preservative-laden chemical swill that's packaged in a bright, shiney can.

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

God! You guys are brutal on this board--and not one of you a beer drinker, I can tell!

[LibRS]

Judas priest dude! If you don't like it then DON'T BUY IT! Jeez.

[Tabasco]

I don't buy it or drink it. At least not after I drank it once, got a raging headache, looked up and found its preservative list and its cheap ingredients (although I couldn't find specific amounts...... must be a 'secret formula').

The only things 'expensive' about Bud is the markup margin and its advertising budget.

AB is clueless about buying trends. That's why they're losing money. Their response? BUD SELECT. Almost EXACTLY the same crap in a fancier bottle. Sam Adams figured all this out 15 years ago. That's why they show a consistent growth and profit. AB is too riddled with nopotism, greed, lack of imagination and habit. New management would finally bring them into the 21st century.

[LibRS]

You know. It would be just plain un-american for a foreigner to own AB. Some things just ain't for sale.

[StarkRavingNakedEmperor]

Amen!

[xujojo]

veto the beer

[xujojo]

McSame will veto the beer...