The Price of An American Icon — $70 per Share
July 16th, 2008
I was honestly shocked how Anheuser Busch folded against the takeover wooing of Belgium’s Inbev. They did not even put up a fight. Inbev had offered $65 per share, Bud yelled once, Inbev offered another $5 per share, and Bud tossed them the keys.
How many 156 year old, iconic companies do we have? Not many. Over the generations, Bud had become more than just a brewer. They had become a part of our culture and identity. Unfortunately, the latest generation of founders spawn proved to be the weakest yet (proving again greatness marrying beauty eventually runs bad – think Hilton, worse Paris Hilton).
This is also bad for our economy in several ways –
1) A large swath of employees and middle management will lose their jobs. Not just at Bud, but also their suppliers, and as this move sparks consolidation even other brewers.
2) Local charity (of which Bud actually did tens of millions) and marketing spending will be curtailed.
3) Biggest of all – billions of dollars in profits that had gone to over a million American shareholders will now be transferred to Europe annually.
Therefore, we are giving up a piece of our culture and economy. It’s a sad situation.
Todd Lipscomb
Founder
MadeinUSAForever.com
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 8:19 pmand is filed under Uncategorized.
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