Anheuser-Busch shareholders approve InBev buyout
Anheuser-Busch shareholders voted today to accept Belgian brewer InBev’s $52 billion buyout of the St. Louis-based company. Anheuser-Busch officials announced the results of the voting at 11:25 a.m. CST during its shareholdering meeting at a hotel in Secaucus, N.J., a few miles from Manhattan.
Owners of more than two-thirds of Anheuser-Busch stock voted for the deal. The 497 million shares cast in favor amounted to 96 percent of all votes cast, which Anheuser-Busch acclaimed as a strong endorsement. Some shareholders abstained from voting.
Coming after Anheuser-Busch’s board unanimously recommended the $70-per-share offer, the vote was expected to be a formality on the way to completing one of the largest corporate takeovers in history. The deal still awaits regulatory approval in China, the U.K. and the U.S.
Weighing the offer and eventually deciding to support the deal “was a very difficult decision for any board to make,” chief executive August A. Busch IV told the crowd of 150 shareholders. “It was discussed and debated extensively.”
In the end, Anheuser-Busch’s board judged that a tie-up with InBev would be the best option for shareholders, and would lead to a “promising future” for the brewer, Busch said.
Sending Budweiser onto an even more global stage — one of InBev’s stated goals — fulfills “the global ambitions of my family,” Busch said. “We are about to sell more beer, to more people, in more countries than any other company in the history of brewing beer.”
When the deal is finalized — expected to happen before the end of the year — Anheuser-Busch’s reign as the biggest independent American brewer will end. The company traces its history as an independent company back five generations, all the way to 1852. That was before the Civil War. This was presumably the final shareholders meeting for the St. Louis-based company, one of the city’s largest employers and one of its best-recognized symbols.
“A bittersweet day,” Busch IV told a reporter as he walked off the stage after the 25-minute meeting.
Several shareholders from New Jersey agreed with him. So, apparently, did Patrick Stokes, the company’s chairman, who shared the stage with Busch.
“I think it’s sad” when a company with as much heritage as Anheuser-Busch loses its independent status, he said. Surrounded by investors and journalists, Stokes spoke briefly in the lobby of the hotel.
“The board of directors represented the shareholders’ interests very well,” said Stokes. “The board of directors is there for the interests of shareholders.”
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
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.