The gutting has started. Most of engineering is being let go. Goal is 2300 workers by the end of the year. Anheuser Busch has to pay off Inbev’s loan with poorer quality, no investment in the company, and heads being chopped. AB didn’t buy Ambev years ago because Ambev’s brewery’s were held together with duct tape. You can see the futre. The gutting of an American icon so folks can make a quick buck.

CONGRATULATION, HOWEVER WHAT HAPPENS TO MY FAVORITE HORSES THE “BUDWEISER CLYDESDALE TEAMS”? I DO HOPE THAT THEY WILL STILL BE IN THE US AND TOURING
THEY ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HORSES BY FAR

How can you cut 2300 jobs but save the Clydesdales??????
You can call the company what ever you want but it is now InBev and don’t say the other companies InBev purchased earlier didn’t warn us. There will be many casualties.
One other question - why are only the guys making the most money out of this sale speaking? Oh - I bet they are sad, but at least their millions will be of some comfort.

This is a sad day for many of the AB employees, this measure simply voted many of our St. Louisians out of a job. My heart goes out to you all.

Capitalism at its best. Capitalism at its worst.

As a native St. Louisan and a Bud drinker I am saddened by this vote, although it was expected. It is important to continue drinking AB products to be sure that the US jobs are saved. I live in Las Vegas and the vast majority here don’t know and don’t care who owns the brewery, just that the quality and taste of the beer does not change. If there is fat in the company it will be trimmed. I for one will continue to drink AB products and hope you do too.

Let’s hope that we see very minimal job loss! Several of my family members work for AB and have been sweatin over this for the last 4 months. Yes this is a terrible day for all, however this is just plain GREED! I want to stop drinking AB products, but I want other to still have a job.

Gob Bless those families who have lost their jobs already!!

I feel for all the people who will lose jobs that they depend to feed their families and put a roof over their heads. Just so some fat cats sitting on their golden thrones with their golden parachutes can fatten their overflowing purses. Even though I rarely drink their low quality products, the eventual dismissal of hundreds of jobs in this community will affect us all in some way or another. I will continue to support the breweries that are owned and operated by St. Louisans in the St. Louis area, who actually care about making a quality beer, rather than making a buck by convincing sheeple that sexy/funny commercials make their colored water somehow good. Here’s to you, Schlafly, O’Fallon, Allendale, Buffalo, Morgan Street, and Square One.

We’re losing jobs well into 500,000 and we’re crying over 2300 jobs? Look saving AB isn’t going to save or region. Losing AB isn’t a nail in the coffin for St. Louis either.

If 2300 lost jobs in the st. louis region is your major gripe then I suggest you pick up a paper.

We need to get these 2300 back on their feet in addition to a larger number of other people without jobs. Oh and we’ll probably see job loss again in the next year since Proposition M didn’t pass. However that doesn’t seem to be a problem with folks here.

Maybe with AB “gone” St. Louis can be about something a little more than “Beer and Baseball”. St. Louis will still remain the corporate headquarters for the Budweiser brand. Mayor Slay has also said he will be discussing with Brito the possibility of moving InBev’s headquarters to St. Louis. If not that then maybe we can position ourselves as the North American HQ.

The likelihood of that happening is slim though because our region isn’t in the shape it needs to be to support a NAHQ. We’ve got a lot of work to do and now is not the time to cry over spilled beer.

AB wasn’t even our biggest company. I believe it was either Emerson or Monsanto.

St. Louisans need to take this as a wakeup call. There is a world outside of the USA looking to compete and we need to position ourselves to compete with it.

That means the region (city/county STL MSA) needs to work together for the betterment of our future. Otherwise we’ll be left behind. We can be a world class city but we have to work at it.

I have lots of friends at AB and know that they will be axed. Sad day for them and their families. On a product note…I have ‘discovered’ other options to AB products - - particularly wine. So many varieties & tastes to enjoy! I encourage you to check it out and enjoy.

“I feel for all the people who will lose jobs that they depend to feed their families and put a roof over their heads. Just so some fat cats sitting on their golden thrones with their golden parachutes can fatten their overflowing purses.”
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The “fat cats” didn’t sell the company. The shareholders did. Try to learn how business works.

The shareholders have spoken. AB management was lax in not seeing this coming.

AB will be a shell of a company within 5 years. The InBev team is all about absorbing and cutting until nothing exists but the name. Then they wonder why sales have dropped and no one is buying their “generic” beer.

I have been a Bud Light and Mich Light drinker for over 20 years. I’m now looking for something comparable that will ease my conscious of thousands of multi-year employees are getting fired because of greed. Remember, this isn’t AB going out of business because it’s weak, it’s a weak company buying a strong company and punishing the loyal workers for their success and years of hard work and service.

InBev can kiss my ass.

The Genious, try to learn how business works. “The Fat Cats” being the Busch family who owned the company to begin with. They most certainly sold the company to other share holders. The current “Fat Cats” i.e. Warren Buffet, are(were) the wealthy individuals who own(owned) the majority of the stock and made the decision. Don’t think for one second that all the shares owned by all the past and current “workers” of AB amounted to a hill of beans. I know perfectly well how a publicly owned company sale/takeover happens. Now go formulate your own opinion.

Shareholders voted to sell? Reality is that not one actual employee or small stock holder who I have asked voted to sell their stock. The fat cats that owned vast lots of stock are the ones who voted to sell it. So, yes it was the fat cats who made the choice for everyone and will walk away with millions, while the small guy struggles to pay the taxes on what he gets. Very little democratic about it. Kind of like electoral votes, you do not have to have the majority of the people to vote for you in order to get something your way. Wonder how the stock sale vote would have stacked up if each stockholder had gotten one vote, regardles of how many shares they held? Also, as an American taxpayer, I am more than a bit upset that at least one of the banks financing this merger (called that instead of a sale so that the employees get less if they qualify for benefits by losign their jobs) are getting bailout money from the U.S. government. Let’s see, my taxes go to pay the bank that will finance a foreign company to buy an American company. This is the reality of the society we live in.

Not to mention, The Genius, that the people who will lose their jobs now? It will all be to increase the bottom line, which will likely increase the bonus’ of all the board members immensley. Hard working people will lose their homes so that the uber rich can afford a second yacht.

We have been told that anything, ANYTHING, that does not have to do with brewing beer will be gone. The Clysdales, the dalmations. the entire horse team, Grant’s Farm, Busch Gardens, all of it. It is sad when heritage and accomplishments mean so little and the almighty dollar means everything. As an employee, I believe we’ve all been duped. Look at what InBev has done to other companies it has purchased and you tell me how bright the future looks. I don’t believe it would have been as easy for a US company to buy a Belgian company. Do you????? Greed is the bottom line. Oh well.

Hostile TAKEOVER folks. Not a merger. Lets hope the DOJ won’t let that language change. He will do anything to getting around making things right with the employees that are getting cut.

I guest Gussie rolling over in his tomb.

I think it a shame went all these company sell to company’s over sea’s. My queation is how do they or you expect people here to make a living. Also you want customer loyal, but is not a two way street. Thanks

Drink MO (Missouri) wine! It’s healthier.

I watched channel 2 news last night, they were saying that 2 of the banks that were bailed out by the goverment have been sitting on this money to loan it to InBev. Is this true? If it is somebody call Barrack and get his
but to St.Louis and start doing his job and save these 2000+ jobs. I can’t believe it, money that is supposed to save peoples homes is taking their jobs away as well. Way to go Corporate America—we don’t have to worry about people on the outside destroying us, we are doing just fine right here
at home.

ol’ ralph must have had a little too much bud before he submitted his post.

This is all due to Obama’s and Pelosi’s failed policies.

To imho…

Do you know the name of the bank in the InBev/AB deal that is getting US bailout money? If this is true, everyone on this board should contact their appropriate Congressman. This is unjust and unethical.

It’s a complete example of share holder greed. The quick buck is making me think of the whole “New Coke” and “Coke Classic” thing. I’ve already heard from AB employees in the know that they are already trying to tinker with the recipes to cut costs.

Instead of using the award winning fresh hops AB is known for, they’re planning on going to a “hops extract”.

Anyone else with other little ‘nuggets’ of information, please feel free to discuss it.

y84mediadotcom - I highly doubt you would be able to tell the difference between an extract and fresh hops. The extract is merely a way of preserving the hops so that they stay fresher longer. As a home brewer that can’t afford fresh hops, its all that I have to work with…

Who needs AB when you can make your own?!?!

Also, I don’t know who said it but - AB InBev North American Headquarters will be located in good ol’ STL MO. STL will not just be the face of Budweiser, but all of the brands they choose to sell/brew here. Has anyone thought of the chance they might want to start brewing other beers here, actually creating jobs?!?! OMG what a concept!

Welcome to the real world A-B people. Who do we blame? Shareholders are rejoicing the hard working real people are scrambling. A-B is a great company and has a great product at least till the end of the year. It’s a shame an American icon is going by the wayside.

“The current “Fat Cats” i.e. Warren Buffet, are(were) the wealthy individuals who own(owned) the majority of the stock and made the decision.”
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False. Mr Buffett was the largest individual shareholder. He owned less than 5% of the company. Buffett, the Busches and all the other “fat cats” collectively owned nowhere near 50%. Please learn about business before posting.
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“Shareholders voted to sell? Reality is that not one actual employee or small stock holder who I have asked voted to sell their stock.”
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Well, gosh, I guess we should check for election fraud, since every shareholder you know voted against it. Why are people so stupid?
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“Not to mention, The Genius, that the people who will lose their jobs now? It will all be to increase the bottom line, which will likely increase the bonus’ of all the board members immensley. Hard working people will lose their homes so that the uber rich can afford a second yacht.”
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I’ve tried to translate your response into English. No luck.

I wonder if there was a law that executives could only get a max. of $1 million dollars for a golden handshake, or that there stock options could not grow and where froze at point of tthe start of negotiations, If AB would have been sold ?????? hope stokes and the boys lose every penny they gained from this sale….cant have your cake and eat it too, must only count for people lower than the top 5 positions. Bet they get a big bonus this year………cant the GOVT. bail ot inbev now? obama u want to make a big impact, create law that requires that a CEO and others only get 3 times the money that the lowest paid person gets in that Co. once a deal like this goe’s through if the lowest paid gets 0 then the ceo gets 000.

stokes and co. should share there wealth from this sale with the whole employee lot…. note to obama, spread the wealth by making it law that the top person in a co. can only get 3 times the amount that the lowest paid person gets when a company is sold.( lowest gets 0 then the top gets 000… not possiable? check out what Germanys upper managment gets in pay and compensation vs. the lowest paid person.

Good comments by uummm. What everybody needs to know is that Brito is not the bad guy here. This can fall squarely at the feet of August III. He continued to run this “public” company as a family business and created a huge amount of overhead and waste throughout the organization. His lame attempts at globalizing the company were weak at best. There is a big world outside STL and we are seeing it now. Luckily companies like Emerson and Monsanto see it and are thriving.

I feel for those losing their jobs but even more so about what they will have to do in the “real world.” The level of benefits and perks they ahve received are not what normal, well run companies do anymore. We can complain about it but that is the way it is.

That proves just how sad a society we live in. I can’t believe that 95% would sell their souls to the devil.

Here’s hoping that rumor was true: that the InBev deal might not go through because of the financial crisis, they might not be able to get financing.

Well this is the second time is a week my vote was on the losing end.

Now it is time to drink Lemp or Schafley. Up yours In-Bev!

You gotta keep drinkin’ the BUD folks. While none of us in STL like the transaction very much, we can make it more palatable if we continue to support the brand. This will support the folks in our town and this is good. Not buying AB brands is only going to punish the employees and the suppliers (who are mostly local)to AB and their employees. We can do everyone a favor if we run out today or tomorrow and buy 2 cases of AB beer. You’ll drink it.

O.K. a few short years Miller Brewing was sold to SAB now it’s MillerCoors.
All we heard was Miller is no longer an American Co. Well how do you big Bud boy feel now?

Little Auggie and daddy Auggie are laughing all the way to the bank. Well St. Louis all I have to say now IT’S MILLER TIME. Go out and show the Busch Family what you really think drink a Miller or Coor beer.

Daniel, what would you do if you were a mutual fund manager? Your fund is down 30% and by selling A-B your fund is now only down 20%… compared to others, you look like a genius… If you own A-B stock, how did you vote? Do you have money it a mutual fund and let your fund manager vote your shares for you? A-B used to be a steady-growth stock but when it because a no-growth stock, due to out of control spending (marketing) and no interest in acquiring other breweries, it was pretty much over. Coming out with fruit flavored brews and skin water, just doesn’t cut it. It been a long time coming. Thanks August III, this Becks for you !

This deal was sealed by the big financial companies and giant pension funds that need cash. Those of us individual investors can’t stand up to the millions of shares these funds own, and our interests were lost in the stampede. So when it all falls apart under InBev’s mania for cutting costs regardless of what it does to quality, don’t blame me. I voted my few hundred shares “No”.

After the board agreed to sell to InBev over the summer, everyone jumped online here and vowed “to never drink A-B products again”. And guess what happened? A-B had strong 3Q sales, actually seeing an increase in sales in a tough year. And now people are on here again, vowing to never drink their products again. The reality is, that outside St. Louis, for the most part, no one cares who owns Anheuser-Busch. We can be upset all we want because of our hometown pride, but honestly, people across the country aren’t going to stop drinking Budweiser or Bud Light. If people take off their blinders, they would see that the company wasted millions of dollars every year, and had every opportunity to deliver more shareholder value, but did not. And therefore did not protect itself. You can’t blame InBev for making a strategic business decision. So what does boycotting A-B products even do? Run them out of business? That’ll show ‘em! Damn them for cutting jobs. I’ll run them out of business so EVERYBODY can lose their job! It’s completely counter-productive.

The two US banks participating in the InBev loan syndication and who are also getting US govt injections (bailout money) are JP Morgan and Bank of America. The two of them are getting a total of $40 billion (according to CNN Money website, JP Morgan gets $25 billion and Bank of America gets $15 billion.) Nice.

Fact and Fiction

Fact - Every company Inbev buys, it pretty much squeezes every bit of money out of it and invests nothing. Proof, check LaBatts

Fact - Inbev will slash A-Bs capital budget meaning no improvements in the facilities, less work for contractors, trade unions, consulting firms, etc. The effect will trickle through the economy in St. Louis and every city where A-Bs breweries are.

Fact - Once Inbev takes over the St. Louis workforce will be cut significantly. Also, jobs will be trimmed at EVERY brewery.

Fact - The average Inbev Brewery is tiny by comparison to the U.S. Breweries. They have no idea how to operate advanced large breweries.

Fact - Inbev is all about themselves. Forget charitable donations.

Fact - Inbev stated that it would keep all breweries open. HOWEVER, there are loopholes, such as changing economics, tax increases, etc. If sales lag Inbev will not keep all breweries open. They are holding the beer drinking community hostage.

Fact - Inbev does not care about the community or environmental issues. They will not invest money or time in issues that don’t directly support the bottom line. They have no comprehension how complex the environmental and safety regulations are in the United States, where we care about our environment and the safety of our people and the community. They pay fines if they get caught. It’s cheaper than compliance.

AMEN UMMM!!!!!

“St. Louisans need to take this as a wakeup call. There is a world outside of the USA looking to compete and we need to position ourselves to compete with it.”

Its a very sad day, one more American Icon gone. America
the whore is quickly disappearing. What traditions will be
left for my grandchildren? This filthy pop culture,
or corrupt media? Its shameful…

I don’t know if it’s a good idea to play devil’s advocate or not, but I think someone should. I’d hate to think that my allegiance to St. Louis might be questioned if I’m not vehemently opposed to this buyout. Yes, this is a sad day. But, the sun WILL come up tomorrow. Rest assured. AB shareholders did what they needed to do… was there really any other method of defense? InBev has made its intentions known and the deal is done. Rather than wasting energy and emotion on what could have been, it’s time to focus on what will be. St. Louis might look a little different because of this acquisition, but the spirit that makes St. Louis great will remain.

I voted as a shareholder of 1900 shares and I must say, I am happy as one can be. The stock did nothing for years, and thanks to Mr Brito and President Bush’s tax breaks still good for this year, this is one sweet xmas for me and my girlfriends. St.Louis, well on it’s way to rivaling Detroit for slum of the nation (you beat it for crime) is in dire straits. Brain drain, boredom, cardinal baseball…whoopty doo, and bitching about I-64 is all you hoosiers know how to do. I love Denver, leaving STL 12 years ago was the single best thing I ever did and would encourage any 20 something reading this to do the same, life is grand away from that dump, it’s exilerating speaking with educated folks and not hearing the perverbial high school question and the excuse of the school districts is why we moved to whatever suburb when in fact you left to escape being 10 miles from the nearest black person. STL, boring, racist, brain drained, derelict inhabitants. NO more A-B…hmmm, no what, Vess soda…lol

Inbev will not back out…if they do they have to pay billions to AB. Wishful thinking people! Our only hope is the government will stop it. August III, I hope you are pleased with yourself! I didn’t realize you hated your son that much to sell him out. You didn’t even give him a chance to run the company. You had to have the last word and you still don’t get to buy Busch Entertainment!

I guess we now know what percentage of stock was owned by employees. That lowly 4% that voted no. It’s already not the same company.

Little known is that AB, at least here in St. Louis, has reinvested millions into brewing and operations during the last few ”flat growth” years. These proactive modernization initiatives impacted the ”bottom line” but were no less proactive. Mr. Brito can realize benefit from this by not reinvesting profits into the company. I, for one, have felt the added responsibility for producing the best product with fewer resources and have embraced paradigm shifts. I’m keeping a positive attitude until I’m no longer invited to contribute to making the best beers in the world.

“O.K. a few short years Miller Brewing was sold to SAB now it’s MillerCoors.
All we heard was Miller is no longer an American Co. Well how do you big Bud boy feel now?

Little Auggie and daddy Auggie are laughing all the way to the bank. Well St. Louis all I have to say now IT’S MILLER TIME. Go out and show the Busch Family what you really think drink a Miller or Coor beer.”

Do people really not know what is going on on the world?
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News flash: Coors and Miller are both foreign owned. SABMiller and MillerCoors are not the same thing.

perhaps AB isn’t the biggest company is st louis but they were very involved doing things for the improvement of the community. can either emerson or monsanto make those claims?

@Carlos Brito - LOL! Very funny! But sadly, much of what you say is true. A lot of stupid hoosiers in this town.

What’s all the chatter about GREED?? We buy stock hoping to make as much $$ as possible..I worked @ 30 years at Bud,busting my balls bouncing 160 lb. barrels and 5 cases of beer at a time down many a flight of stairs, and then pulling all the %?@!*^ empties back up the stairs and throwing them all up into the truck.Not whining;it was good honest work!Now I’m hoping to make a “quick buck”,as it was called.Thirty years is not “quick”.,believe me. I have a kid’s college tuition to deal with…4 years @ $40,000 a year.Do you want to guess if I voted to sell to C.Brito?Yeah,I’m just another selfish turncoat.

Drink Local!!! There are plenty of people we still need to support here. Schlafly, Buffalo Brewing Co., Mattingly Brewing Co., The Stable, O’Fallon Brewing Co., Boulevard Brewing Co., Charleville Brewing Co. and many more. All of which are still independently owned American Breweries with their integrity still in tact that we need to support. So I urge you, Drink Local!!!

Cheers!