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Tag(s): Corporations Mergers And Acquisitions; Europe; Outsourcing
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July 14, 2008 at 04:14:17

Headlined on 7/14/08:
This Bud's for Vous

by Rob Kall Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Another stab in the pants to the American male. Budweiser beer is not quite all-american as it’s been. The brewer of Budweiser, Anhauser-Busch, accepted a $49.9 billion bid from InBev, a Belgian company.

Kinda outsourcing the brewski management, eh?

InBev is reportedly very tough when it comes to cutting costs, so look out American workers.

Forbes reports

“Anheuser controls nearly half the U.S. market with brands like Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob. InBev, which was formed by the 2004 merger of Belgium's Interbrew with Brazil's AmBev, has strong positions in Western Europe and Latin America and is growing in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Together, they will easily pass SAB Miller to become the world's largest brewer by volume, as well as sales. Their combined revenues for 2007 come to $36.4 billion: Anheuser controls nearly half the U.S. market with brands like Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob. InBev, which was formed by the 2004 merger of Belgium's Interbrew with Brazil's AmBev, has strong positions in Western Europe and Latin America and is growing in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Together, they will easily pass SAB Miller to become the world's largest brewer by volume, as well as sales. Their combined revenues for 2007 come to $36.4 billion.”

In one fell swoop over 50% of the American beer market becomes a foreign asset. Earlier this week it was the Chrysler building.

It’s hard to imagine something like Bud Beer being a non-American product. It’s almost up there with Mom and apple pie. Makes you think they might be next.

Naomi Klein talks about disaster capitalism at work. We’re seeing it here in the USA. Start an insane war, destroy the economy by failing to deal with mortally devastating addiction to oil, let finance institutions run wild, without applying regulations and you have a recipe for takeovers of industry after industry.

Blame the Bush administration for starting the war, for appointing cronies who look the other way at deals and regulation violations. But also blame the Democrats in congress for failing to take on Bush and for taking lobbyist money that has persuaded them to let to many deals pass and to pass legislation good for corporations and bad the USA.

Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.

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15 comments

SW Texas ultra-liberal
john riggsSW Texas ultra-liberal

This is SACRILEGE !

First it was Yellowstone Park, then the county jail, is nothing sacred in this land of the dollar bill ? Jeez I hope my Milwaukees Best and Kassel are safe from these mega-merger mattoids. Excuse Me but I am going to the bathroom to check and make sure there is not a "made in Taiwan" sticker on the family jewels.

by john riggs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 426 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 6:37:07 AM

Retired university professor.
francineRetired university professor.

Result of the weak dollar

The power that be

- encouraged a huge private and public debt/low interest rates

- of course, the dollar took a nosedive--these same people thought it was swell, it would erase the debt faster, just like in Germany after WWI

Now they realize that not only the weak dollar drives oil price up but that when the Euro nearly doubles its value to the dollar since it was created, Europeans can buy US companies by the carload.

Gosh, what a big surprise, who would have thunk it?!

by francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 332 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 6:57:25 AM

Recently retired activist with an MA in Public Policy from an Ivy League school. A born again believer who also believes in the separation of church and state and is outraged that the Word of the Lord has been highjacked to justify the actions of the current administration.
macdon1Recently retired activist with an MA in Public Policy from an Ivy League school. A born again believer who also believes in the separation of church and state and is outraged that the Word of the Lord has been highjacked to justify the actions of the current administration.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Yes, Germany after WWI and look what happened. The country was ripe for fascism. Those who do not heed the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. Guess most Americans failed history...

by macdon1 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 99 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 5:10:48 PM

Mike Folkerth is the author of "The Biggest Lie Ever Believed" and is not your run-of-the-mill author of finance and economics.

The former real estate broker, developer, private real estate fund manager, auctioneer, Alaskan bush pilot, restaurateur, U.S. Navy veteran, heavy equipment operator, taxi cab driver, fishing guide, horse packer and few jobs too embarrassing to mention, writes from experience and plain common sense.

Mike’s humorous systems of “Mikeronomics” ...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Mike FolkerthMike Folkerth is the author of "The Biggest Lie Ever Believed" and is not your run-of-the-mill author of finance and economics.

The former real estate broker, developer, private real estate fund manager, auctioneer, Alaskan bush pilot, restaurateur, U.S. Navy veteran, heavy equipment operator, taxi cab driver, fishing guide, horse packer and few jobs too embarrassing to mention, writes from experience and plain common sense.

Mike’s humorous systems of “Mikeronomics” ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

And down we go.

Warren Buffet stated (paraphase) that we are selling off America a little at time, but that it was big country and most don't notice.

Each day I get up with the hope that most Americans will wake up on the same morning and understand that the very premise of our economic underpinnings absolutely positively double guarantee our continual decline.

But each day I wake up to Obama said this, Clinton said that, and McCain said something else, none of which makes a tinkers damn.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 10:33:06 AM

Forgot,

Being from Colorado, I would say switch to Coors, but they merged with Canada's Molson a couple of years ago.

by Mike Folkerth (120 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 566 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 10:35:48 AM

Midwesterner, veteran of VietNam era naval service, I still feel an obligation to defend the Constitution against "all enemies, foreign and domestic."
John Sanchez Jr.Midwesterner, veteran of VietNam era naval service, I still feel an obligation to defend the Constitution against "all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Might as well switch to vino.

I myself like some Spanish and French varieties, but anyone determined to buy American (where that is still a possibility) can find some very good domestic labels, and not just in California.

And there are always the micro-brewers out there, although they may not be as popularly priced as the Belgian swill.

Oh, by the way, that was "Belgian", wasn't it? Or was it rather, "belchin'."

by John Sanchez Jr. (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1172 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 12:34:33 PM

The author lives in a small village in central Europe and has been active in the local workers movement for nearly 3 decades.

Globalism knows no borders, why should we ?
Tony ForestThe author lives in a small village in central Europe and has been active in the local workers movement for nearly 3 decades.

Globalism knows no borders, why should we ?

a dog-drink-dog world

I like beer. I dislike large breweries. Some of the best beer you can get comes from the smaller, family-owned and operated breweries which have managed to survive without selling out to any of the larger breweries...such as InBev. The term "microbrewery" comes to mind. Anheuser-Busch is a very large brewery. This "merger" comes as no surprise to me. It's "a dog-drink-dog world" as the folks in Newcastle, England would say. Newcastle Bown Ale, one of my favorite bottled brews.

Did I use the term "merger"? I did indeed. According to "Brewery and beer news";

July, 14. 2008
InBev and Anheuser-Busch forms the worlds leading brewer
InBev and Anheuser-Busch has agreed to combine the two companies, forming the world’s leading global brewer. Anheuser-Busch shareholders will receive $70 per share in cash, for an aggregate equity value of $52 billion, in an industry-transforming transaction. The combined company will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev.
The combination of Anheuser-Busch and InBev will create the global leader in the beer industry and one of the world’s top five consumer products companies. On a pro-forma basis for 2007, the combined company would have generated global volumes of 460 million hectoliters.
The company will make St. Louis, Missouri the headquarters for the North American region and the global home of the flagship Budweiser brand. With about 40% of the combined company's revenues to be generated in the U.S., the company will draw on the collective expertise of Anheuser-Busch's dedicated and experienced employees and its culture of quality. Given the limited geographical overlap between the two businesses and the efficiency of Anheuser-Busch’s brewery footprint in the United States, all of Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. breweries will remain open.

Funny how they mention the employees. Mergers are not-so-funny as mergers are most usually implemented for a few well known reasons, one of which is "synergy", the term used to depict the elimination of duplicate efforts and positions as a result of a merger. Straight forward, it boils down to a large number of employees being "made redundant" as they say in England, or "being fired" or "laid off" as we say in the USA.

Beer fans have a lever in what happens at the brewery. Personally speaking, I don't purchase and consume beverages from large breweries on a regular basis. Instead, I move from one brew to another, trying to cover as much ground as I can. We have so many good beers here where I live, there are so many to choose from, there's no reason to dwell on any one beer. Luckily, the beers don't get upset with you when you "dine around".

Another strategic way of putting it to the big breweries is to search for and support the smaller breweries. Shop around. If, as was the case with one local brewery, you investigate work conditions at the brewery and discover these are less than satisfactory, spread the word and boycott that brewery. The boycott we had on this one particular brewery came about after the company had filed an annual financial report, listing a right-winged (actually neo-nazi) political party as one of the top ten organisations the brewery was financially supporting. We found out, spread the word and boycotted. It hit them bad, so bad they're still trying to recover. The brew is good one, the work conditions, pay & benefits good, but as a radical leftist, you somehow can't sit down to a good soccer match and open one of their beers.

Some of us get so fed up with it all, we begin to brew our own beer. I haven't tried it yet but I'm sure I will soon. Yoogle "Home brewing the easy way" for an example. Not a good one, but an easy one.

Some people I know have been brewing their own beer, for self consumption only, for decades. It's a good way to save money, spend time, have fun and become independant ...in this one way.

While back home last month, I noticed the stranglehold Anheuser-Busch has on the US beer world. Did you know, Anheuser-Busch has even gone so far as to grab the sole provider contract for international soccer tournaments held in Germany? I mean, how sick is that? Bud Lite at a soccer match in a beer country like Germany? What a joke.

Get out of here!

From Germany ( 1,300 breweries and 500 brands of beer ) ........

Prost!

by Tony Forest (6 articles, 15 quicklinks, 153 diaries, 1350 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 11:26:18 AM

P.S.

Ever wanted to see a US firm gain ground in China ?

The merger of the world’s number two and number three brewers by volume will create a combined company with more than $36 billion in annual revenues and a better negotiating position with suppliers of expensive ingredients. The two will also gain extra traction in China with their combined operations. The beer market there is enticing because of rapid growth, but it is also highly fragmented and hard for big western brewers to crack.

Found on the Economist.com where the article also dabs into the likely tagets of synergies ; "operations such as management and distribution".

I see yet another positive aspect in this; otherwise totally apathetic bee-bellied americans will be mobilized and could be brought to stand united with anti-globalists. Politicians can do as they please as long as I gots my Bud Lite!

by Tony Forest (6 articles, 15 quicklinks, 153 diaries, 1350 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 11:43:49 AM

beer-bellied americans

keyboard is a bit worn out....

by Tony Forest (6 articles, 15 quicklinks, 153 diaries, 1350 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 11:45:33 AM

Linda Milazzo is a Los Angeles based writer, educator and activist. Since 1974, she has divided her time between the entertainment industry, government organizations & community development projects and educational programs.

Linda began her writing career over 30 years ago, starting out in advertising and promotions. From 1976 to 1989, she operated an independent public relations service providing specialty writing for individual and corporate clients. For the past six years, L...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Linda MilazzoLinda Milazzo is a Los Angeles based writer, educator and activist. Since 1974, she has divided her time between the entertainment industry, government organizations & community development projects and educational programs.

Linda began her writing career over 30 years ago, starting out in advertising and promotions. From 1976 to 1989, she operated an independent public relations service providing specialty writing for individual and corporate clients. For the past six years, L...

to see more of bio, click on member name

GREAT TITLE!!!

Good one, Rob!!!

by Linda Milazzo (110 articles, 0 quicklinks, 16 diaries, 142 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 3:45:02 PM

Art is publisher and lead reviewer of www.projectorreviews.com He has over 30 years of experience in the Audio and Visual fields, including launching Presenting Solutions (an INC 500 company) who's website was the first online site for projector information and sales back in early 1995. He sold that company in 2001, and launched www.ProjectorReviews.com shortly thereafter.
Art FeiermanArt is publisher and lead reviewer of www.projectorreviews.com He has over 30 years of experience in the Audio and Visual fields, including launching Presenting Solutions (an INC 500 company) who's website was the first online site for projector information and sales back in early 1995. He sold that company in 2001, and launched www.ProjectorReviews.com shortly thereafter.

EU beer more money, more jobs

Aww geez Rob,

This is exactly what you folks have wanted. Forget the why's for a moment about the weak dollar, etc.

You can't have it both ways. The weak dollar is also responsible for record exports these days. - Yup, american workers in the few manufacturing industries that haven't been over-regulated away by liberals and environmentalists, get to make good bucks and overtime, since we are once again, competitive in general manufacturing - at least with other "1st world" countries. Note that the weak dollar is helping Boeing recoup marketshare it's been losing for years to Airbus, as one good example.

The same weak dollar, that provides more American jobs, and slows outsourcing overseas, has a cost, and that is, that our companies are better deals. When the dollar was strong, manufacturing went down the tubes, but US (multi-nationals) got to buy up lots of EU companies, etc.

The Molson and Coors (someone mentioned that earlier), went down in 2004, when the US dollar was at its peak against the EU (and much stronger against the Canadian dollar than today.

Since that was more of a merger of equals it may not matter, but while there are many prices to pay, for a weak dollar, there are the advantages as well. No change exists in a vacuum.

That INBEV may want to cut costs - well, consider, that brewing domestically is far less expensive than shipping across the pond, so it's highly unlikely that production will drop - unless everyone switches to non A-B brands. And yes, I'm sure you consider all executives at A-B to be grossly overpaid, so, at last you can get rid of most of them, and pat yourselves on the back.

Not only will folks from the EU, and China, and anyone else who finds things cheap in the US of A buy our companies, but they'll vacation here, they'll buy our distressed housing, and help us get out of that mess, etc.

Eventually, the dollar will make a comeback, and Miller (or Molson Coors) can buy InBev.

No - scratch Miller from that list - if they tried to buy InBev, no doubt our anti-business government will block the sale for fear of a monopoly.

by Art Feierman (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 9 comments) on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 10:16:04 PM

anti-business government

now that's a new one..."anti-business government". roflmao

by Tony Forest (6 articles, 15 quicklinks, 153 diaries, 1350 comments) on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 3:15:03 AM

Retired university professor.
francineRetired university professor.

yes of course

the weak dollar is a plus when it comes to exports, but its downsides are now offsetting the advantages. And the advantages are short term, whereas the downsides--selling America piece by piece--are long term.

And yes, the dollar should make a limited recovery when this economic mess recedes, but don't kid yourself, its days as reigning international currency are over.

by francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 332 comments) on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 3:42:06 AM

CPA, University Lecturer Risk Finance, Major Royal Australian Infantry (Inactive) RFD, Former Mayor City of Greater Dandenong, Wife from Arabic speaking coutry, Former Lecturer Arabic & Islamic culture - Army Reserve Command & Staff College.
kwalshCPA, University Lecturer Risk Finance, Major Royal Australian Infantry (Inactive) RFD, Former Mayor City of Greater Dandenong, Wife from Arabic speaking coutry, Former Lecturer Arabic & Islamic culture - Army Reserve Command & Staff College.

Everyone loves a high roller when he has money

America has drunk the Kool-Aid of Rapture, the Iraqi War and short term profits based on endless credit. When the people of Jonestown drank Kool-Aid laced with cyanide as a result of their religious fervour and paranoia you know what happened - they died. Sadly the US hasn't really seen anything yet.

by kwalsh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 206 comments) on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 9:55:59 PM