Is the A-B board stalling, holding out or tilting at windmills?
Today the Anheuser-Busch board of directors rejected a bid by InBev to buy the St. Louis brewer for $65 a share. The board said the offer undervalued A-B. According to our story, board chairman Patrick Stokes said:
The proposed price does not reflect the strength of Anheuser-Busch’s global, iconic brands Bud Light and Budweiser, the top two selling beer brands in the world, with Budweiser selling in more than 80 countries today.
One might look at the board’s stance this way: We might be willing to sell the company — but not at the price you offered.
So is the board holding out for a better price? Or is it sincerely resisting a takeover attempt by the Belgium brewer? Is that a fruitful effort by A-B’s board? Or, realistically, is there anything they can really do to stop a takeover?
Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
Way to Anheuser-Busch!!!! Keep my bud american owned and american made!!
If this ever does go through, I beg each and every one of you to never drink another AB (inBev) product again. Tell your friends, relatives, co-workers, anyone you know to help support this great country that we live in. Certain images are meant to be American and ours forever. To see that flying eagle on the AB logo and have it not be ours would be absolutely devastating. Can’t wait to go to a Cards game at InBev Park. As individuals, we can not stop the sale but we can influence the results of the sale. We gained our independence from Europe many years ago but it is now being taken back. Our ancestors fought so that we would have our land which could operate our business without the influence of foreign interference. This is not a typical company like google or purina, this is a company that stands for everything American.
jeeze sorry all for the typos,I just read what I wrote. This keyboard I have is a piece of garbage,some letters don’t want to take. I say we buy the foreign company that seems to have made it.
anyway, my point was AB has clearly been spreading their wings overseas and expanding in a manner appropriate to their business. No trying to cram themselves down everyones throat like I think Brito wants to do.
I don’t live in St Louis or anywhere close, but I pledge never to drink another AB product if absorbed by In-Bev. I know nothing about international business, but I do know this is not right. To look at those pictures of Anheuser and Busch, after 150 plus years of ownership in one family, THE American icon about to go to Belgian ownership, really makes me want to weep.
What is the big deal if a foreign company owns AB? The beer will still taste the same. I don’t understand either why so many people think that it will be bad for the St Louis economy. Besides a few office jobs there won’t be many jobs lost. Besides AB isn’t even in the top 10 biggest employers in the region.
No, InBev-owned Bud will NOT taste the same. They can only make a fraction to pay their debt financing for the deal if they just sell off the theme parks and can all the union workers, which they’ll definitely try to do. No, they’ll start skimping on ingredients as a means of cost-cutting. Bud won’t even be Bud anymore, regardless of whether they keep the U.S. breweries open.
Suck that Carlos! Go AB!!!!!!!
I bought a six pack of Busch (Aren’t those European mountains?) on Wednesday.
Since Busch is essentially a regional brand (unlike Bud, Mich, etc.) I’m savoring them now, because yep, Busch and Busch Light will probably be the first to go.
I’m just curious about one thing: when Daimler bought Chrysler, there was all this restraint of trade/worldwide monopoly, etc. concern with the politicos. Where is that now if Bud-Bev would make it a worldwide beer cartel? Whatever shenanigans InBev is pulling with suing (on the behalf of the shareholders) to dissolve the A-B board of directors– that sounds like something the FTC or the courts should be involved in.
Hey, I heard the other day that Pabst Blue Ribbon and Milwaukee’s Best were now on the list of chic beers in the same way that people smuggled Coors through Kansas in the 1970s.
If everyone who wants this deal to fail went out and bought a six-pack in support of A-B right now… a run on beer…a beer run…now *that’s* a revolution!
Sluuger, you slay me, you really do…
“Thanks to crooked wall-streeters, we now owe some foreigners more capital than they owe us”
I would LOVE to hear your thoughts as to the economic reasons behind this takeover bid by Inbev.
Companies buy companies all the time. Sometimes they are from America, sometimes they aren’t. Everyone is acting like this is the first American company to be pursued by foreign competition. It’s laughable.
To answer Kurt’s questions, yes to all. They are resisting a takeover bid, but in they can’t fend off Inbev they at least want to drive the price up. This was the expected move by both groups of anaylsts who were arguing the “drive up the price” side verses the “fight off the bid” side. This is Act 1. Act 2 will commence in the next few days.
People like Lisa can claim that we will all be working for foreign companies in 10 years, just like all those folks in the 80’s who said we would be reporting to Japan. Most of us, including me, don’t have the economic background to really understand the ramifications and long range affects of this deal. Let’s all read the experts opinions instead of forming our own ill-informed ones, shall we St Louis?
I believe it is a great thing that AB has rejected the offer. I hope that AB’s stockholder can resist this greedy European company. Please let’s reject them and give our support to AB and their plan to improve their company and keep it truly American