Quote :

"ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) -- Belgian brewer InBev has announced it will buy its U.S. rival Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion to create the world's largest brewer. The deal would create the world's largest brewer and put the U.S. beer-maker in the hands of Belgian-based InBev. The acquisition means control over America's largest brewer, the No. 2 worldwide, moves overseas. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Anheuser-Busch has more than 48 percent of American market share with brands that include Bud Light. InBev confirmed the details of the purchase of Anheuser-Busch early Monday. It first bid for Anheuser-Busch on June 11. InBev is the world's second largest beer maker, with brands that include Stella Artois and Becks. The deal must be approved by shareholders and European and U.S. antitrust regulators. The merger will produce the fourth-largest consumer product company worldwide. iReport.com: What do you think of the sale? Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. did not return messages seeking comment Sunday evening. The Wall Street Journal said the deal was for $70 a share, a $5 increase over the offer Anheuser-Busch rejected in June. It wasn't immediately clear how long approval might take from regulators and shareholders. Several Missouri politicians have expressed concerns about the merger -- especially how it would affect the approximate 6,000 people employed by Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis. InBev has said it plans to use St. Louis as its North American headquarters, and that it will keep open all 12 of Anheuser-Busch's North American breweries. InBev SA announced its intent to purchase Anheuser-Busch on June 11. The Anheuser-Busch board initially voted against the merger, calling the initial $65 per share offer too low. That prompted much squabbling between the companies over the past few weeks. InBev filed a motion seeking the removal of all 13 Anheuser-Busch board members; Anheuser-Busch filed suit calling the InBev effort an "illegal scheme" that threatened to defraud Anheuser-Busch shareholders. Among other things, the suit noted that InBev failed to disclose it operates a brewery in Cuba. So it was with some surprise when reports surfaced on Friday that the two companies were sitting down for merger talks, reportedly after InBev upped its offer by $5 to $70 per share. The merger, if completed, will bring to an end to one of the most iconic names in U.S. business and a name synonymous with St. Louis. From college buildings to offices to the stadium where the Cardinals play, the Busch name is virtually everywhere in the Gateway City. Eberhard Anheuser acquired the Bavarian brewery in 1860 and renamed it E. Anheuser & Co. His son-in-law, Adolphus Busch, joined the company in 1864 and it was eventually renamed Anheuser-Busch. The company survived Prohibition by selling products ranging from ice cream to root beer. In addition to opposition from politicians and civic leaders, at least two Web sites sprung up opposing the merger. SaveBudweiser.com claims to have more than 60,000 signatures from merger opponents. SaveAB.com hosted a recent anti-merger rally that drew hundreds to downtown St. Louis. InBev has not said if layoffs will occur as a result of the merger. But some cutbacks seem likely. Even without the merger, Anheuser-Busch said last month it planned to cut pension and health benefits for salaried employees as part of an effort to slash $1 billion in costs by the end of 2010. The plan called for offering early retirement to 1,300 salaried workers 55 and older. The cost-cutting effort -- dubbed "Blue Ocean" by the company -- was part of a strategy to fend off the merger. The beer industry has been consolidating in recent years amid rising costs for transportation fuel and key ingredients. "

7/14/2008 8:44:19 AM

7/14/2008 8:52:26 AM

damn, I'm about to take a job with them and this is making me have second thoughts. Hopefully they don't cut back too much.

7/14/2008 8:59:02 AM

^are you really man? That is awesome. What were you gonna be doing? something in marketing?






oh, and i never put my thoughts on this. It is sad, this was one of the last great american institutions. I'm glad to hear that the breweries will stay open and the St. Louis site will become the NA headquarters b/c if you've ever been there, man that place is awesome. I hate that the great american lager kinda loses its majesty. I believe we will see changes in advertising (InBev uses a different agency) and unfortunately a change in taste over the next few years...due to ingredient suppliers and changes InBev will make in that catergory.

it does kinda bum me out but oh well.

[Edited on July 14, 2008 at 9:10 AM. Reason : add]

7/14/2008 9:02:50 AM

meh

it's like when SAB bought Miller.

a year from now it'll be a footnote in the minds of americans, if that.

7/14/2008 9:15:23 AM

i doubt the taste will change that much- stella artois doesn't have much flavor either

7/14/2008 9:17:16 AM

^^yeah you are probably right.

7/14/2008 9:20:44 AM

Quote :

"America's largest brewer, the No. 2 worldwide, moves overseas"

Quote :

"InBev is the world's second largest beer maker"

??

7/14/2008 9:21:32 AM

Yeah, that confused me too. I thought that bud light was by far the best selling beer in the entire world. When I first heard about this I just assumed they were trying to get some free publicity with a lowball bid. I didn't really think they could actually buy Anheuser-Busch.

7/14/2008 9:28:53 AM

This is a good thing. All of A-B's beers suck donkey dick.

All these necks around here that drink bud light are ridiculous...I hope they can knock some sense into these ingredients and recipes.

[Edited on July 14, 2008 at 9:47 AM. Reason : 34]

7/14/2008 9:47:27 AM

They won't. Stella isn't any better than the AB beers.

7/14/2008 9:57:44 AM

Don't drink shitty beer
and keep your $ here.


Someone make a placard with that on it for me

7/14/2008 9:58:22 AM

with the declining dollar this will be happening more and more.

unsolicited buyout offers that is.

[Edited on July 14, 2008 at 10:34 AM. Reason : e]

7/14/2008 10:34:18 AM

nvm

[Edited on July 14, 2008 at 10:52 AM. Reason : i was just gonna state how this isnt that new of news]

7/14/2008 10:51:04 AM

i wonder if people will stop drinking bud light and budwiser out of principle.

i'm guessing no.

7/14/2008 11:54:44 AM

maybe they will have more bud dry available

7/14/2008 11:56:04 AM

are they going to change the name? and i don't think the recipe will change much...when inbev bought beck's, everything stayed pretty much the same

besides, the only american beer worth drinking is yuengling

7/14/2008 12:21:19 PM

Quote :

"^are you really man? That is awesome. What were you gonna be doing? something in marketing? "

Yea I would be doing marketing and promotions for them. I'm sick of this office job, I need to get out of here. Running promotions for them at bars and being over the Bud Light girls for a year ftw. After that it's back to sales.

7/14/2008 12:29:11 PM

Quote :

"It is sad, this was one of the last great american institutions. "

An American institution based on a recipe copied from Germans/Czechs...

7/14/2008 12:35:04 PM

i'm pretty sure stella artois is the bud lite(or busch lite) of europe - all the poor college kids were drinking it

they call if wife-beater beer

this one kid didn't have a fridge so he sat it out on his windowsill to keep it cold

7/14/2008 12:39:34 PM

Quote :

"It is sad, this was one of the last great american institutions."

they bought that institution with marketing. it's not good beer at all.

[Edited on July 14, 2008 at 12:47 PM. Reason : v i guess we are in the lounge, aren't we? ]

7/14/2008 12:43:46 PM

let's try to keep this as minimally KngDouchebag "your beer is piss rawr rawr rawr" as possible

7/14/2008 12:45:19 PM

i don't care for it, but i guess that's because i think beer should have flavor...compare bud to just about any european beer and you can taste the difference

i can't wait for it to get cooler so i can start brewing again and not be condemned to drinking cheap beer or paying $texas for the good stuff

7/14/2008 12:47:11 PM

7/14/2008 12:48:35 PM

Quote :

"they bought that institution with marketing. it's not good beer at all. "

this was about A-B as a company, not their beer and how it tastes. but yeah, lets keep the douche baggotry at a minimum. the last thing i wanted was a pretentious beer snob thread.

7/14/2008 12:57:54 PM

Quote :

"Yea I would be doing marketing and promotions for them. I'm sick of this office job, I need to get out of here. Running promotions for them at bars and being over the Bud Light girls for a year ftw. After that it's back to sales."

that'd be f'in awesome

7/14/2008 1:00:58 PM

i hope the clydesdales don't get laid off christmas commercials wouldn't be the same without them

7/14/2008 1:08:20 PM

i can't say how many times i've seen those horses in person...those suckers are HUGE

7/14/2008 1:12:58 PM

Grant Farm ftw

7/14/2008 1:16:02 PM

OH NOES NO MORE SEA WORLD!

7/14/2008 1:46:23 PM

DAMN. busch gardens

7/14/2008 1:51:18 PM

Thank God for Coors

7/14/2008 2:11:10 PM

Bud fucking sucks.

A couple of guys came in the Raleigh Times the other day and asked for Bud Light and were literally taken aback to hear that they don't sell it there.

7/14/2008 2:35:27 PM

^speaking of shitty beer, I sometimes enjoy a nice cold High Life draft for $1 at your establishment

[Edited on July 14, 2008 at 2:43 PM. Reason : s]

7/14/2008 2:43:08 PM

The 10oz glass should exist at all bars.

For the record, though, I don't work there.

Also, that bizarre seafood place on St. Mary's, The Hook Up, has $1 High Lifes at all times and you can buy yourself beers for future use...works especially well when you're broke before payday but have five High Lifes on the board that you bought yourself with your last paycheck.

7/14/2008 2:44:16 PM

^ i've been meaning to make a thread about that joint

7/14/2008 2:48:18 PM

^^ I want to walk in there on payday and throw a 20 down now just for that

7/14/2008 3:05:56 PM

Dear InBev:

Please 2 /Bud Light.

No one would see it coming!
Bad Business Practices '08!

Thanks!

7/14/2008 3:18:10 PM

as long as yuengling isn't involved, im ok

7/14/2008 7:20:31 PM

i prefer coors light for my domestic anyway

7/14/2008 7:52:41 PM

Quote :

"^ i've been meaning to make a thread about that joint "

I thought that was a TWW no-no these days?

I <3 Hook-Up, too... but if they get a thread... I get a Buckhead thread

7/15/2008 12:24:40 AM

Quote :

"A couple of guys came in the Raleigh Times the other day and asked for Bud Light and were literally taken aback to hear that they don't sell it there."

almost as bad as the douche bags who go to the saucer on pint night and order bud light/corona/whatever other shitty bland beer they have

7/15/2008 12:39:29 AM

better drink the last of the good budweisers.

7/15/2008 1:21:53 AM

They better not shut down Busch Gardens

7/15/2008 7:16:27 AM

Quote :

"They better not shut down Busch Gardens "

haha yea. thats about the only thing that affects me from this (despite the fact that I do hate to see an american company go over sees even if i didnt consume their product)

7/15/2008 7:27:51 AM

I doubt they get rid of Busch Gardens, however they may change the name to Miller Park or something

7/15/2008 7:37:08 AM

One of the first things to go is probably going to be the entertainment division, which includes the amusement parks. They won't be closing down, but there's a good chance that they will be sold. Who knows if the parks would still keep the branding.

7/15/2008 7:42:33 AM

If the parks are really profitable though they might not sell them. I'd be pissed if they did. I don't want to see it turn into a concrete parking lot like Kings Dominion

7/15/2008 7:45:12 AM

Quote :

"as long as yuengling isn't involved, im ok"

qft

7/15/2008 8:51:33 AM

set em up

7/15/2008 10:20:28 AM