A-B deal. How do we feel about THEIR new Belgian Overlords?

[homebrewer_99]

Yahoo poll:

Would you stop drinking Budweiser if a Belgian company owned it?

Yes: 20% 33229 votes
No: 25% 41799 votes
I don't drink Budweiser: 55% 90126 votes

Total Votes: 165154

 

[FlyingHorse]

Would you stop drinking Budweiser if a Belgian company owned it?

Yes: 20% 33229 votes

Guess they're all switching to American micros, huh? Or is the MillerCoors ownership (SABMiller is based on London, MolsonCoors in Canada) American enough for them?

 

[Desert_Sky]

hmmm...
Sam Adams is the biggest American brewery now. I wonder if we will start seeing that on their commercials now

 

[rockout]

I hadn't thought of that! I do like Sam Adams, maybe for sentimental reasons... it was the first beer I ever tasted that I actually LIKED the taste of. One would think from a marketing standpoint that this would be the time the bang the "Made and Owned by Americans!!!!" gong loudly. Much as I despise stupid jingoism, if I owned Sam's I'd definitely be pushing for that kind of an ad campaign. Stupid people's money is just as good as educated people's, and stupid people have been mostly buying Bud.

 

[Brew-Happy]

You know, it might be time that all of the HBT members just quit their days jobs and banded together in the middle of the US and started HBT Brewery!!!

Enough work and effort would make it the largest brewery in the US.

Might be a lot of arguing but hey that would be fun too

 

[cubbies]

It doesn't sit well with me, but just because I am from STL. I have heard the mumbo jumbo for the last several weeks about if it goes through they aren't going to change anything, they aren't going to move the brewery....yada yada yada; and hopefully they don't. However, I don't trust these fools as far as I could throw em. They have already announced that they are going to be cutting 50% more jobs than AB had already planned. AB was going to cut a billion dollars of expenses, InBev says they want to cut 1.5 billion.

I think that is just the start.

It could end up being a good thing, as some have mentioned, even though a foreign brewery bought the company, the majority of the stockholders were Americans and got a very good deal on their stock that will hopefully be re-invested back into our economy. That is good. If InBev keeps the American Breweries open while expanding distribution, that would be good. but like I said, I don't trust em. I think it is going to be bad for STL when it is all said and done.

What I want to know is how much is it going to cost to paint all of those trucks? Every Budweiser truck I have ever seen has the "American Owned" stamp of approval on it somewhere.

 

[olllllo]

I think that it's telling that they went from not on my watch at 60 and rolled at 70.

That tells me that any cutbacks by In-Bev and protect America has a price at 10 per share with these guys. Job cuts were coming. Debatable as to whether thay would be as deep. I guess it depends on how much you believe the former owners just because they were Americans.

 

[rockout]

Listen, if you're worried about the InBev takeover solely because of job cuts in the St. Louis area, lemme tell you about the plight of the buggy whip manufacturers. Them dang automobiles came along and put em all outta business, they had to lay off EVERY SINGLE employee! Now that's just not right.

Ban cars! Get the buggy whip makers back their jobs!

 

[Glibbidy]

Adolphus Bush is rolling over in his grave.

BTW Famous last words I heard were that InBev was not going to touch AB's North
American operations.

 

[rockout]

Why would he care? The beer his company is now brewing isn't the same as what he brewed.

In fact, are any homebrewers really upset over this? I just don't see the downside. Not that there's an upside, either, which is why I'm completely ambivalent about it.

The only potential upside was mentioned earlier; ie Bud drinkers now switching to better beers because they're not going to drink a "foreign-owned" brew. A silly attitude, of course, but I don't see that happening anyway; they'll just switch to some other swill, or not switch at all despite all their lamenting over this takeover.

 

[olllllo]

Disrtibution, Distribution, Distribution!

 

[MikeFlynn74]

I hate to see American money going overseas.....

 

[olllllo]

To be a little more clear when I say distribution....
I fully expect AB-InBev to put the pull court press on retailers to carry all of the fine Bud-InBev products. This is really going have the potential to hurt craft beer.

 

[sterling214]

I live 15 min. away from getting a good growler of beer from at least 2 excellent micros. Also there is my own beer, which should be getting nothing but better. I don't drink in bars much at all anymore because of the whole Drunk Driving thing, so I could care less.

 

[rockout]

I hate to see American money going overseas.....

Then you should be ecstatic right now, because a whole navy-load of money from Europe just came into the US, via the $70/share buy.

It's meaningless to even say something like "American money going overseas" in a case like this anyway. It's a very Archie-Bunker-like 70's kind of sentiment. That attitude didn't do much for our economy back then and it sure as hell makes even less sense now.

 

[beerthirty]

I cant help but think of amf and harley during the seventies. In-Bev is messing with an American icon(although not my icon).

ollllllo are you saying that there wont be shelve space for craftbrew due to mandatory stocking of other In-Bev product?

 

[MikeFlynn74]

It's meaningless to even say something like "American money going overseas" in a case like this anyway. It's a very Archie-Bunker-like 70's kind of sentiment. That attitude didn't do much for our economy back then and it sure as hell makes even less sense now.

Actually only about 28 of that is profit for the share holders. But thats a one time offering. Now all profits will be sent to the EU.
Bud was trading at around 45-55 dollars prior to the talks of being bought.

 

[rockout]

Actually only about 28 of that is profit for the share holders. But thats a one time offering. Now all profits will be sent to the EU.

A completely meaningless number. If you really want to look at it objectively, how many billions of dollars does that 28% over previous price represent? And how many years will it take InBev to recoup those billions? If they ever do? Just because A-B is profitable now is no guarantee that they'll be profitable 10, 5, or even 2 years from now.

The bottom line is, it doesn't matter to an average American's wallet one bit whether A-B is owned by InBev or not.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Just because A-B is profitable now is no guarantee that they'll be profitable 10, 5, or even 2 years from now.

Im sure they are well worth over paying in the short term- Investing billions takes multiple banks and lots of people to say we will make the money back fast.

So once InBev takes the reins all profit now goes to Belgium. Not American investors. It might not matter to my wallet. But it will impact the American Economy eventually

But I guess it shouldnt matter. We should not own a single thing in America or have any pride in American products, right?

 

[carnevoodoo]

But I guess it shouldnt matter. We should not own a single thing in America or have any pride in American products, right?

We're in a new era. Globalization is changing everything and with teh dollar as weak as it is, everything American is dirt cheap (relatively) to the rest of the world.

If you think about what a barrel of oil costs right now (145 a barrel!) that is mucch more like 75 dollars a barrel to a lot of the world. We're feeling it because of the current economic climate of our country.

If America wants to be #1, they have to take a serious look at how to do that and not just assume we're always going to be there. Too many Americans are WAY too proud to admit we have issues, but we do and solving them will make us the global leader again. In the meantime, people will still fly here and buy up everything we make.

Take pride in American products. We are still a great nation and unparalleled in many ways. Just stop assuming that we're invincible. And really, InBev has done us all a favor. Drinking American now means drinking higher quality beer.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

And really, InBev has done us all a favor. Drinking American now means drinking higher quality beer

I do fear for the Jobs that will be lost, reading about InBev slash and burn policies for profit policies.

 

[cubbies]

We're in a new era. Globalization is changing everything and with teh dollar as weak as it is, everything American is dirt cheap (relatively) to the rest of the world.

If America wants to be #1, they have to take a serious look at how to do that and not just assume we're always going to be there. Too many Americans are WAY too proud to admit we have issues, but we do and solving them will make us the global leader again. In the meantime, people will still fly here and buy up everything we make.

I dont see how selling large corportations (and dont fool yourself, InBev is going to make money hand over fist with this deal) overseas accomplishes what you are suggesting. AB pumped a lot of money into our economy. AB-InBev will also pump a lot of money into our country, but a large percentage of the overall money is going to go overseas. The American economy was better off before this deal happened.

 

[olllllo]

ollllllo are you saying that there wont be shelve space for craftbrew due to mandatory stocking of other In-Bev product?

Answered here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=72463

 

[carnevoodoo]

I dont see how selling large corportations (and dont fool yourself, InBev is going to make money hand over fist with this deal) overseas accomplishes what you are suggesting. AB pumped a lot of money into our economy. AB-InBev will also pump a lot of money into our country, but a large percentage of the overall money is going to go overseas. The American economy was better off before this deal happened.

All 12 AB breweries will still operate in America. The salaries of those workers will still get their paychecks. They will still buy ads, and their beer will still be taxed at the state and federal level. America will still see a ton of money. The only shift is where the rich people get richer and it isn't like America benefits from the huge stockpiles of cash of the rich. Additionally, There are still shareholders, it is just that the majority will be owned by another country.

What was I suggesting? I am saying this will continue to happen until our country figures out a new economic model, we get ourselves out of debt, and we stop being so arrogant. Economies are not national anymore. We need to accept the global economy and at the same time figure out how to continue to be prosperous.

 

[rockout]

As a comparison, many Americans wept and lamented when a Japanese company bought Rockefeller Center in its entirety in 1989, another time when our dollar was weak. Then in 2000, when our dollar was strong again, guess what happened? Some American billionaires bought it back. Big deal.

Stubbornly sticking to the opinion that "This is bad fer 'mericans!" is laughable. Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion, of course, but protectionism is without a doubt bad for the American economy, and that's been proven before. The InBev deal is not bad or good on any measurable scale; it's just a reflection of where the dollar is at the moment.

 

[Orpheus]

I have a hard time feeling bad for A-B. Aren't they just now becoming victims of what they've been doing to other breweries for decades?

 

[Glibbidy]

Why would he care? The beer his company is now brewing isn't the same as what he brewed.

Just curious, what is the source of your information? Last I knew it was mostly the same recipe and has changed very little over the past one hundred years.

FWIW, I do not consume any AB products, but I certainly do respect their business model.

BTW...little known fact, or perhaps widely known...Adolphus Busch never really cared for beer, especially his own. He in fact was a wine drinker. Hard to believe, but true.

 

[Desert Monkey]

I agree on the pieces here in which distribution is mentioned as a negative impact to the current US Craft Beer market. It's also an interesting impact to the market of AB drinkers that now hear they have a new overlord at the switch.

In my experiences with AB drinking types, they seem to have a "you can have my X when you pry it from my cold dead hands" mentality when foreign companies impact a product they see as "American". Outside the job discussion, maybe some of these hard core American Beer drinkers will balk at the takeover, and say "if that's the way it's to be, give me a Real American Beer - Sam Adams will do".

Just saying, maybe some of them move into the American craft beers out of spite to the overseas image this news presents.

 

[Dr Vorlauf]

For all the talk about Inbev's cost-cutting and the potential loss of A-B jobs here in the US, I found this interesting

View attachment 6495

InBev has almost 3x the employees of A-B, but produces only ~50% more beer?

Typical ratio for many European based companies.

 

[Dr Vorlauf]

As a comparison, many Americans wept and lamented when a Japanese company bought Rockefeller Center in its entirety in 1989, another time when our dollar was weak. Then in 2000, when our dollar was strong again, guess what happened? Some American billionaires bought it back. Big deal.

Stubbornly sticking to the opinion that "This is bad fer 'mericans!" is laughable. Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion, of course, but protectionism is without a doubt bad for the American economy, and that's been proven before. The InBev deal is not bad or good on any measurable scale; it's just a reflection of where the dollar is at the moment.

The Japanese lost a ton of money on that deal. They sold when real estate in Manhattan was in the tank.