It actually describes all the M&A activity as well as the changes in corporate governance of AB Inbev over the years. And how the marketing was slowly shifted to Belgian and Brazilian C level execs. They took the most profitable been company in the planet and drove it into the ground. The latter push was to be the ESG and DEI flower child as rated by a European agency. Turns out that was the wrong thing, the worst thing to do. As many other companies also found out. Go woke go broke. The were on the bandwagon of the “stakeholder theory”, which believes the Friedman doctrine is inconsistent with the idea of corporate social responsibility to a variety of stakeholders. But they eventually discovered that Friedman was right if you want to be profitable and have your stock price not tank.
Their last gasp was a misguided promotion of a woman to the position of US Markets brand manager who thought that Bud Light (which the Brazilians had been totally ignoring as an old cash cow) needed a make over and did 100 days of women promotion for Bud Light. She had a can made with Dylan Mulvane’s face on it. Dylan featured it on a podcast and the core market of Bud Light went nuts. Bud did not walk it back, did not say they made a mistake, they doubled down and they lost their market to Coors and Modelo. They still have not got it back. Kinda like WISPA announcing they are only going to be offering fiber based content from now on… If you like business, business history, marketing, accounting you will like this book. It is strictly a light historical accounting of the history of Anheuser Busch and how the biggest marketing disaster in history was made. Fascinating history. Loved all the wonky marketing and accounting detail. I also learned how the whole ESG/DEI thing across the world rose and fell on the flawed stakeholder theory of corporate governance. Seems obvious to me, but took some time. Once they all “woke up” if fell apart quickly. Tractor Supply, John Deere and Harley Davidson lead the charge. Some ESG funds have now been sanctioned by regulators as they were technically only token ESG funds created to take premium commissions for the doo goooders that wanted to brag about owning them. Blackrock, one of the largest equity holders in the world has transferred all ESG/DEI funds to their European partners. The whole category is down to about 10% of its peak and is continue to decline. Bottom line is US corporations are simply getting back to work, creating wealth and keeping their owners stock supported. That is really the only mission they need to have. From: AF [mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com] On Behalf Of Darin Steffl Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2025 12:43 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT good book Does the book cover how uneducated many bigots are in America? Does it explain why some people on the right are scared of everything different? Does it explain how a trans person drinking beer doesn't negatively affect any "normal" beer drinker? >From what I can gather, a trans person posted a Bud Light promotion/ad on >their Instagram to attract younger customers then conservative snowflakes >boycotted Bud Light? Is that the general consensus of why conservatives >participated in cancel culture? I thought they were against cancel culture? On Sun, Mar 23, 2025, 12:07 PM Chuck McCown <ch...@go-mtc.com <mailto:ch...@go-mtc.com> > wrote: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Last-Call-for-Bud-Light/Anson-Frericks/9781668070901 I understand ESG/DEI much better now. Odd business philosophy that took over for a short period. Stakeholder vs Shareholder duty of care for corporate governance. It all reverts back to Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations. Nothing new under the sun. -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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