Buffett backs InBev bid, Belgian newspaper says

Waldo- i will try my best to stay off the weed, as you say. Who says that? You must have gone to community college with your buddy John. Let me know what McDonald’s you are working at tonight so i can stop by and offer you my extra change.

All of these comments about
the death of St. Louis and
about Warren Buffet being
unpatriotic are ridiculous.

The world is now open to free
trade, and businesses will do
what is best for them as a
business decision.

Similarly, people, like all of
you, shop at places like Wal
Mart because you get the best
prices for the goods you want.

Decisions in a capitlist system
can’t be made for emotional or
patriotic reasons.

Frank, the brewery does not own Grants’ Farm, it is owned by the Busch Trust and the brewery leases it from the trust, therefore, Inbev could not close or sell it. That being said who knows what the Busch Trust would do with it, the way they spend money I am sure they will need the funds from the sale.

Here’s a thought for all the people who think A-B should not sell @ $65 per share. Go to your local broker and offer $66 per share. I am a stockholder and would be more willing to sell to you (an American) than to a foreign company.
America is a free enterprise systems. Your Senator is wrong in trying to dictate what a company and/or stockholders can do with their shares.

I’ll still be buying bud as long as it is priced right and the quality is the same. I’ve lived in St. Louis my whole life and will always think of St. Louis as AB’s home. I don’t know if AB will be bought and leave or not but I do know the only constant is change. Regardless of who owns it the product and its heritage will still be the same.

My take:

First things first, this will be bad for St. Louis. It doesn’t have to be a death sentence for the city, but it will be bad. Even if Brito believes what he is saying about this being so great for St. Louis (which he doesn’t - don’t kid yourself), it doesn’t matter. How will Inbev get $65 per share value out of this company formerly trading in the low $50s? Major, major cost cutting. Even if St. Louis is the north american HQ, 1000s of layoffs will occur. He won’t have a choice, unless he wants to lose his job.

Second, I don’t hold it against mutual funds, pension funds, Buffett, etc. if they say yes to this deal. They’re just doing their job. In fact, this is most certainly why many of them, Buffett included, bought AB stock in the first place.

That being said, as St. Louisans whose family, friends, neighbors, and city treasurer count on AB, it’s OUR job to advocate against it. And it’s McCaskill’s, Bonds, etc. as well. It’s a capitalist society, but also a republic. And I have no problem with st. louisans and their elected leaders letting those who advocate a business deal that is bad for us know(politely), that we can always take our business elsewhere.

at one time he argued it was unfair for a cleaning lady to pay higher taxes that multi-millionaires paying capital gains taxes. Now he’s supporting this! What a greedy hipocrite. Oracle of Omaha, you can KMA!!!!!!!!

The political leaders know there is not one thing they can do to stop this, McCaskill has to say she is oppossed to it or it will be used against her in the next election as with any other political leader in this state. One thing the political leaders can do and I believe they are doing by asking the FTC and other federal agencies to look at this deal is bury Inbev in paper work (and take it from me the gov’t can BURY you in paper work and research time). This simply is a stall tactic to possibly give AB more time to fend off the takeover, to give them time to purchase Modelo or present a plan to stockholders on how they will increase the stock price higher than $65 per share. Who knows if that is possible, I have been told by people in the know that Bud Light Lime is doing far better than they predicted, they can’t brew it fast enough.

billiecircus, you are right, proud graduate of flo valley and umsl. you can come by the mcdonalds i own when you are old enough or smart enough to drive.

John–those are spurious comments about how InBev operates. Do you honestly believe they are losing customers to the point they are cooking the books? Their brands have been, and will continue to be, quite successful in their local markets.

Warren Buffett is doing what he should do. He has a responsibility to his shareholders to make profitable investments. I have no doubt Buffett would speak up if he felt AB were stronger as an independent company than as a part of InBev. The fact that he hasn’t done so speaks loudly. I suspect that Buffett feels as I do–that the Busch family can probably negotiate a higher price from InBev.

InBev’s purchase is not a good thing for St. Louisans who aren’t AB shareholders. Jobs will be lost, and in all likelihood, some of the charitable works may be scaled back. It will be tough for individuals who work in the corporate HQ. I suspect it won’t be bad for the brewery employees, as I doubt InBev will do too much with it. I do wonder what InBev will do with A-B’s distributors–they want the great network, but many of the distributors are very inefficient.

These purchases are tough for the affected individuals, but we’re losing sight of one key outcome that often happens when companies merger and become more efficient in a competitive marketplace–the products become cheaper to produce, and this cost savings is passed on to consumers. This also forces A-B’s competition to become more efficient.

InBev is able to bid $65 per share because they are paying with Euros. This transaction includes a significant bet that the dollar will strengthen against the Euro over the next few years.