Dean,

The Miller-Coors company will be headquatered in Chicago, this was announced on Friday, they beat out Dallas, Milwukee and Denver. All the big dollar corporate jobs from those areas will now flow into Chicago. Why can’t STL get it’s teeth sharp and make things happen? Becuse the Gov’t is disfunctional. I’m in Chicago, and I will say this, 20 years ago it was in decline here, but through aggresive infrastucture, solid county wide leadership, and a thirst to make the city prominent, this place is booming while the rest of the midwest sinks. Sadly, STL, you are now the next Detroit and that is sad.

this is a sad day for st. louis - the board should be ashamed

Scott–St. Louis city public schools aren’t great, but calling them the worst in the nation is over the top.

Boston Beer Drinker–you are aware Sam Adams is a public company that someone could try to buy? It’s not like the founder could just say no if someone tried to buy them–Koch owns all of 2% of the company. No one would pay for them at their current multiple, but it’s still a fair point that their owner has no more power than the Busches did. Also, if we had laws like Bordeaux, we’d have 9% unemployment. Not a great tradeoff in my book

Hey ‘blob’ and (some) other posters… It wasn’t President Bush who sold the blinkin’ company, it was the BOARD OF A-B. Their the greedy, irresponsible people. BTW, I’m a shareholder - I have not voted for this sale; I WILL not vote to approve this sale. So THERE’S your “free market” at work.

Derek–why should the board be ashamed? It’s job to act in the interest of shareholders. They are their appointed representatives. The shareholders told them to get a deal done, and they did. Why should they be ashamed about doing their job?

Another uniquely American icon is whored out for quick profits. Promises will be made that this will only have a minimal impact on St. Louis, and as soon as the ink is dry In-Bev will begin plans to forever alter the history of St. Louis and A-B.

What a very sad day…and how ironic that I was enjoying a Bud earlier this evening with some friends. It will - and I say this with absolute certainty - be the last Bud I ever have. Let’s face it…Bud is mediocre at best, but it was home-grown. Now it’s been sold down the Mississippi so a few nameless white men can become even wealthier.

Microbrews, here I come.

Paul,

I respect your enthusiam and passion a great deal, but, the corporate status, the loss of corporate taxes that fund the city services, just to name a few, will have devastating consequnses over time. Trust me when I tell you that there will be a ton of layoffs over the years, Mr Britta is known for that. I have a spouce in the industry and I can tell you that there will be many heads chopped in STL due to this takeover. Who to blame? no one, this is business, this is the global economy at work here folks. If AB was so “concerned” about this and then wanted to do things to create shareholder value, they should have done it the past 5 years. They did not, and when you answer to shareholders who keep the company afloat, you have to do hwats best and this is the best case scenario.

Paul, many compnies still call STL home, but the past decade, so many have left, like Ralston, the city just let them leave without a fight, is this leadership or civic pride? F#ck no it’s not, this is stupidity 101 at STL city hall. Until the region merges and puts strenghth in numbers and combines assets, this place will continue to slide but in a much faster fashion. Say what you want, but this is a huge loss, and like Detroit, one loss here two losses here and well…there you go, don’t tell me STL is not the next Detroit.

I have lived in St. Louis all of my life, have been drinking AB products for as long as i have been allowed to do so. There is no way that i will drink AB/InBev products. There is nothing left in this city that is ours anymore. Give AB/InBev a couple of years, the tours at the brewery will be shut down, Grant’s Farm will be closed, all of the union workers, FIRED. kiss that sweet benefits package goodbye guys.

They will play nice for a year or two and slowly but surely get out of our dying city ASAP. Our country just doens’t seem to care that we are selling everything off to foreign entities that can’t stand us to begin with. They want our land and business’s because our money is so down right now. They spent 50 Billion of OUR money, That’s only 30 or 40 Billion of their money. They are going to recoup their “loss” in less than 4 years. We need to stop whoring out what is ours in this country for money. We are already whores to the world for oil, if we don’t stop this cycle now, we won’t have anything left to sell off.

To quote from North Dallas Forth: “Whenever I say its a business they tell me its only a game. Whenever I say its only a game, they tell me its a business.” Yeah, business is business. And I undertstand that the Board got an offer they can’t refuse. But more than just the stockholders are affected by this decision, and it doesn’t bode well for the rest of us. So Bravo on the deal, but don’t expect a note of congratulations from me.

If you think the economy is bad now, wait until InBev starts cutting jobs and lowering the quality. I don’t drink beer, but I can’t help but feel something really, really bad is underway.