Slay skeptical of InBev chief’s claims
Mayor Francis Slay — who has a brother and sister who work at Anheuser-Busch — spoke to InBev chief Carlos Brito today about his company’s hostile takeover attempt of the St. Louis brewing icon.
The mayor is the latest public official to hear from Brito, who earlier this week made the rounds on Capitol Hill, meeting with, among others, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and U.S. Rep. Todd Akin.
Slay said he was skeptical about Brito’s claims that, should the acquisition go through, the Belgium-based beer company would keep the combined firm’s North American headquarters on Pestalozzi Street and not close any U.S. brewing operations.
“The things he was saying were the things that, obviously, you want to hear,” Slay said in an interview this afternoon. “But what I told him was: How can I believe you? How do we know this is really going to happen?”
He cited the example of Federated Department Stores, the owner of Macy’s, which purchased the previously St. Louis-based May Co. and its Famous-Barr chain.
“We were told that Federated was going to put Macy’s Midwest headquarters here in St. Louis,” Slay recalled. “They did do that. They put the headquarters here. Now, two years later, it’s gone.”
Brito told Slay that InBev would be sensitive to local issues, should the takeover bid go through.
“And, of course, I said I cannot support that, will not support it, have not supported it,” Slay said.
Listen to the whole interview below, done outside a glass store in Lafayette Square.
I am a former employee of one of St. Louis’ lost Fortune 500 Companies. I had to move to the East Coast to maintain my standard of living. Now the A-B Eagle has come home to roost. Sooo, did Slay’s sis and bro get their jobs at A-B on merit? Maybe, but I doubt it. That’s really the heart of A-B’s demise. They hire by cronyism, nepotism and favoritism. Everyone there, from the CEO to the lowliest floor-sweeper is vastly overpaid. WHEN ImBev takes over they will have to address this; does the fork-lift driver at A-B deserve to make twice as much as his equal at WalMart? It just isn’t sustainable in the global economy, which for better or worse, is here to stay. The talent will be retained, or relocate. Those of lesser skill/means/connectedness will be stuck, with their wages and aspirations leveled to their global value. Those low-skill / high-wage gigs are hard to come by, and probably will never be replaced. Detroit is in similar straights.
What does this mean for the Lou? We’ll have to wait and see, but from here it looks pretty grim. I mean really, what company would relocate to the city? Slay (and the rest) are still operating on a 20th Century model. It doesn’t work anymore…
St. Louis, my beloved hometown is becoming much more like Memphis, Columbus, and yes, Kansas City than it is like Chicago, Pittsburgh or Denver. There just isn’t much there, and this will be a body blow.
nothing like a little scorned employee to help bring down corporate America and let greed in general rear its ugly head. Companies are being thrown under the bus for this greed and what employees are left …..are left to pick up the pieces.
The people we know at AB are NOT repeat NOT overpaid. Most work overtime at the office and at home and only get paid for 40 hrs. AB was maybe run like that years ago, but times have changed and so have salaries.
You stated that you moved for an inflated salary….why didn’t you just see if Wal-Mart could hire you??
Lisa,
I’ll bet InBev agrees they’re overpaid. Wait and see…
I wasn’t lucky, born-well or connected to relocate when my company left. Just talented and valuable.
That WalMart thing, I’d love to move home, can you put in a good word for me? With your boss?
–Bud
St. Louis has been slowly losing corporate identity for awhile. I forgot a biggy, AG Edwards being bought out by Wachovia. No, the mayor doesn’t/shouldn’t shoulder all of the blame, but that damn earnings tax and horrible schools isn’t a beacon shining for businesses and productive people to move to St. Louis. The earnings tax sure isn’t a magnet to hold any headquarters should a stl company be purchased by another either.
Take overs = loss of jobs. When they start a hiring process the workers will make less than the previous ones. Offer current employess a nice buy out to cut costs and make the expected earnings forecast. Corporate economics 101.
To all politicians such as Hubbard and Slay, quit the posturing. This deal is in the hands of shareholders. Will it be a blow of course. Do you like it? Of course not, but there is nothing my colleagues and I can do. We will wait to see what happens and start planning for a future with out AB.
This should be your response from now on. This one is free the next one is market rate!
yes, I will. They are good hard working, tax paying Americans. Okay on to real life.
The city of STL has done NO favors to their employees that they are FORCE to live in their community. Most employees are underpaid but have to put their kids into church schools because the city schools can’t provide a decent education. Talk about a class action law-suit…employees suing their employer for breach of contract. What does the mayor say about that?
Hopefully Carlos won’t see this weak link in our city.
Fortunately AB employees aren’t subject to these trappings. Slay is only worried about his city earnings tax, that AB’s hard working middle class employees pay. YES, the average Joe at AB is a hard working
middle class employee that just tries to make it work for their families!!
So with that said, like I said earlier, this smells of death. ALL over. All over the country, all over the city, county, any place you can reach. 2-3 years tops, everyone will be scratching their collective heads in wonderment WHY and HOW this could have happened.
Well, stockholders….check your portfolios in a few years and see what happened. You sold out.