First our police force, then our schools, and now our brewery! When will the takeovers end?
“Like baseball, apple pie and ice cold beer (wrapped in a red, white and blue label), Anheuser-Busch is an American original.” So begins the online effort to save St. Louis’ largest brand.
SaveAB.com hosts an online petition where fans of the beer, its home city, and the idea of American ownership can add their names to the following statement:
With my signature, I hereby commit to joining the effort to keep Anheuser-Busch owned and operated right here in America. I agree to let my name and address be used only for this purpose and not for any other purpose.
If you’re concerned over the hostile takeover attempt by the Belgian company, InBev, sign the Petition today www.SaveAB.com.
Two years from now when hundreds of St. Louis A-B workers have been let go, the brewery is just a shell of itself and philanthropy is down to zero, will anyone remember that on June 20, 2008 (Save AB Day) STL Business Journal chastised all efforts to thwart the sale to InBev, scoffed at politicians who called InBev to task and said all will be fine and that worry is for naught?
It’s all about the dollars, says Biz Journal. Now there is civic pride for you.
Posted by dungy1 | 20. Jun, 2008, 2:12 PMI was also stunned by that BizJournal editorial. The paper which is supposed to be a business publication has very wierd editorials that are usually anti-business and center on “the arts” and other liberal causes. Now, when they have the chance to rally for the local working class, they cave. Somebody has a load of AB stock.
Posted by flyover | 20. Jun, 2008, 6:50 PMI don’t believe that God gets involved much in day to day issues or that God is vengeful. Howeveer, it sure is tempting to regard the AB takeover as “just desserts” for the harm that the Mayor’s office did to St. Louis children. When the slate of the Mayor’s office took over SLPS the slate gave a district with a lot of challenges even more problems. Serving green turkey to students in 2004 was not an improvement, although it may have meant more income for the chldren’s hospitals. The Mayor’s office incompetantly blew a chance to make real improvements and never even apologized.
Posted by CityResident | 21. Jun, 2008, 9:42 AMI hope you are not talking about my God, because He isn’t that stupid. To suggest that God would say, “Hmm, let’s see, Slay really screwed those school kids, so to punish him, let’s screw around with the biggest employer in town and jeopardize the livlihoods of thousands of innocent people who had nothing to do with the school issue and probably couldn’t pick Slay out of a line up of three people. I’d like to think God is a little smarter than that. This argument is almost as stupid as the dopes who blame George Bush for everything.
Posted by flyover | 21. Jun, 2008, 3:31 PMSOLD!…………..AB doesn’t want to be saved. If they did they would’ve kept the poison pill. I’m sure most AB employees live in the county so they have no concern about Slay or SLPS.
Posted by BigD | 21. Jun, 2008, 5:00 PMBud,
You may be right, although they all pay one percent to the City for the earnings tax. You may also be right that AB wants to be sold. Adolphus IV is quoted in today’s WSJ as saying he supports the sale. While the Busch family tree is watered with Budweiser, most of them, and I know many of them, have little or no daily contact with the business. Many have made huge fortunes in other businesses and are simply past the emotional phase and want to maximize their assets. A smart old broker told me once about becoming emotionally attached to a stock. He said, just ask yourself this question. If I had a check for the amount the stock is worth right now, would I buy that stock today or is something else a better buy with a better upside? I think all the Busch family members would have to answer the question and say there is something out there with a better return. The big question is will sentiment influence their decision. For them it would be the same as renouncing a title of nobility. Would they rather remain royalty with a little less dough, or more common with more? They may not be employed there anymore, but they can still say I am a Busch, even though many of them have other last names after the dilution of so many generations. If I had to guess, I would say the non-core family Busch’s–who aren’t employed there will take the money. The “I am a Busch” business will certainly follow them throughout their lifetimes before becoming the equivelent of “I am a Greisedeick”. Economists say families go from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves (working class) in three generations. The Busch family has had a great run. They’ve done it by granting distributorships to relatives, something most companies can’t do. When that stops, the three generations rule begins.
Posted by flyover | 21. Jun, 2008, 7:00 PMCity Boosterism, or even Nationalism, ends after a few hundred million. They have no incentive to stay loyal to St. Louis when they can buy a few of their own islands or fly around the world on private jets.
Posted by Douglas Duckworth | 23. Jun, 2008, 10:03 AMSchlafly is better anyway…..
Posted by Turd Ferguson | 23. Jun, 2008, 10:19 AM“…it sure is tempting to regard the AB takeover as ‘just desserts’ for the harm that the Mayor’s office did to St. Louis children.”
Tempting to anyone with SLPS tunnel vision, maybe.
Posted by Jackson | 23. Jun, 2008, 11:31 AMThere is nothing that anyone can do to prevent the sale of AB. What’s happening is literally the nature of the beast for a publicly traded company. Sell or be taken over with hostility. Any politician who bellows about how he or she will “keep AB here” or “save AB” is either lying to appear active, or simply does not understand global economics. There’s nothing else to it.
Posted by Bud Melman | 23. Jun, 2008, 2:37 PMBud,
Politicians lying…in St. Louis or Jefferson City…. If they are active, they are usually lying.
Posted by flyover | 24. Jun, 2008, 8:01 AM