Anheuser-Busch gets unsolicited bid

Having worked for a subsidiary of A-B for the last 32 yrs. I can tell you that they may not be the greatest people to work for but the job has ALWAYS paid decent and has always been there (except for 2 weeks when the Breweries went on strike). They have been reducing the workforce where I work through attrition and modernization .....from over 320 people in 1976 to a current 170 .........but never through a layoff or firings. Personally I'm not worried about who makes the Beer. I'm concerned about the good TAX PAYING jobs that this country will lose. My question is this: When all this cost cutting and merging and everything is as consolidated as can be ........who do these companies think will be able to buy their products ? Won't be all those laid off workers pushing carts in the Wal-Mart parking Lot ! Maybe all the illegal aliens will keep them in business ! Screw it .....They lay me off.......... I'm moving to Mexico and lay on a Beach !

Don't blame George Bush he was just the pretty face that the Republican Party sold you in 2000 and 2004, now that same Republican Party is trying to sell you McCrapper in 2008 and you know what most of you are just stupid enough to go for a stupid, senile, old man who cant even read a speech. And in addition to that he is someone who has already told you he doesn't understand the economy.

You want to hear something funny a lot of Americans will be sending their mortgage payments to foreigners pretty soon as most of our banks are ate up by or forced to borrow from foreign banks and goverments.

Great...now the Europeans can also wash their cars with Bud.

Hate to bring you the fact that companies are not owned by countries, they are owned by their stockholders. All of the Foutune 500 have owners around the world and should be thought of as international companies. The sooner everyone adjusts to that reality, the sooner we can come up with real solutions to address the negative aspects of globalization.

I go to school at Missouri S&T, a predominately engineering school in Rolla MO, only about an hour and a half away from St. Louis. AB is a top employer there. If AB moves, so will the job prospects of some of the most promising students. AB is known around the nation and is essential to St. Louis both in jobs and in the money that it gives back to the community. Regardless of the quality of their product they are a huge employer across the US and it would be a truly sad day to see them be no longer US owned.

Cindy McCain owns an Anheuser-Busch distributorship. If a Belgian company buys AB, will Mrs. McCain need to register as a foreign agent?

I presume that all of you who are outraged at the thought of a foreign company buying a local brand are similarly outraged that Staples (of the US) is buying Corporate Express (of Europe)--right??

Mike Licht
Cindy McCain owns an Anheuser-Busch distributorship. If a Belgian company buys AB, will Mrs. McCain need to register as a foreign agent? 0!#47 - Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:21 AM MDT

As amusing as it is asinine.

Do you suppose people distributing Guinness or Patron are registered as such??

I am not one way or the other for this take-over. But what gets me is how those against it including Blunt and Bond (both Republicans), belong to the same party that says this stuff is good for the United States.

That friends is the real problem and this should be told to every Republican in the United States.

It cannot be any clearer than this.

Bush tried to prepare you for this -

Somebody named Paulson came to St. Louis 1 year ago and told everybody foreign investment is the best thing in the world. He said Bush is behind it 110%.

Eat on that for a while then don't cast your vote for McBush.

"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was in St. Louis today to tout the virtues of foreign investment, and he chose to give his speech at the British-owned FKI Logistex plant in Olivette, which makes material-handling equipment. FKI Logistex traces its heritage to Alvey, an equipment maker founded 96 years ago in St. Louis. Alvey was sold to FKI of Loughborough, England, in 1999.

In his remarks, Paulson mentioned that investment by FKI enabled the St. Louis plant to buy a million-dollar metal-cutting laser. He expressed concern about anti-foreign-investment sentiment in the US, saying he wanted to send a message:

What President Bush is attempting to do is rebuild a consensus, broaden our dialog in this area so it's clear to everyone that foreign investment is part of this country's prosperity. We're open for business. We want foreign investment.

FKI Logistex employs about 600 people in the St. Louis area, and Paulson said foreign-owned companies account for 84,000 jobs in Missouri. The Treasury secretary also visited a French-owned BioMerieux plant here. Both local sites are featured in a USA Today story about Paulson's visit."

Well, if the Belgians or the Mexicans buy A-B, maybe they'll start making decent beer there, instead of the diluted rice-based swill they turn out now.

Got more important things to worry about like forclosures and gas.

A lot companies unlike bud are facing bankruptcy and laying off

because of energy costs.

When Daimler bought Chrysler several years ago did that make Chrysler a German Company???

I don't understand why this is such a big deal. It is a business transaction - pure & simple. If we raise a flag every time a foreign owned company buys one of ours, are we ready to accept the rest of the world vehemently opposing when we try to buy one of theirs?

There are hundreds of foreign owned companies here does not mean job loss.

One way to tank our economy and eliminate thousands of jobs would be to put limits on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). We need those funds coming back into our country to offset all the dollars we're paying for foreign oil.

So maybe it can be improved and actually taste like beer!

I for one will be happy if AB is bought out. Free Trade is here to stay. Can't stand the AH in mgmt. No congressman has the right to stop this takeover. Wake up the people don't care. They know what a bunch of crooks that run the place. From what they did to the true Budvar born in the Czech Republic stealing their name to moving Rollong Rock from hometown America to a NJ to which we know what it is full of.

I for one will be happy if AB is bought out. Free Trade is here to stay. Can't stand the AH in mgmt. No congressman has the right to stop this takeover. Wake up the people don't care. They know what a bunch of crooks that run the place. From what they did to the true Budvar born in the Czech Republic stealing their name to moving Rollong Rock from hometown America to a NJ to which we know what it is full of.

As a Canadian, I find this more than a little amusing. Through the 1060s and 70s the U.S. bought up all kinds of Canadian companies, hollowing out Canada, and any time a Canadian objected to the takeovers they were lectured about the laws of the free market and accused of being anti-American. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Perhaps it's time for the U.S. to grow up.

I live in the St. Louis Metro East (the Illinois side) and I think this would be detrimental to the economy in this area. A-B supports so many organizations, jobs, etc. around here. Will they guarantee that there will be no job cuts? Do they realize how valuable A-B is to this area? It's not about it being un-American or supporting Free Trade. Around here it's about tradition and to aim to take over a company that has it's roots firmly planted in this community is not right.

Amen John. Looks like the image of the Ugly American is back - maybe never left!!!

Hey maybe this is to our benefit. Back in the 80's Japan bought a ton of stuff in the US then when things got bad they sold it back to us for pennies on the dollar. Look at Chrysler, Benz paid something like $36 billion for it, ran it into the ground and sold it back to US investors for something like$ 6 billion. Sometimes things just don't work out.

Anheuser Busch is the last of the large American owned brewers. Miller is owned by SAB (South African Breweries) and Coors was merged into Molson which will now merge US operations into SAB/Miller. InBev was built by buying breweries all over the world and then cutting the crap out of them, making a lot of money while their volume went down. Anheuser Busch is the importer of most of their products in the US because they did such a terrible job of it. I am a stock holder of AB and will vote against if they give me the opportunity!

Joe, whether or not I agree with you is not the point. You are a stockholder and therefore have a right to make that choice. To others, not your problem. If you want to have a voice, be like Joe and buy some Anheuser Bush stock tomorrow morning.