Anheuser-Busch to lay off employees after Bud Light loses spot as top-selling beer to Modelo in May

[Jose Garcia]

Source: CNN

Bud Light
New York
CNN
—
Beer maker Anheuser-Busch said Wednesday that it will lay off positions across its US corporate staff.

In a statement, an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said the restructuring “will simplify and reduce layers within its organization.” The layoffs will not include frontline staff such as “brewery and warehouse staff, drivers, and field sales, among others.”

The job eliminations represent “less than 2%” of the Anheuser-Bush US employee population, the statement said. The company’s website says that it employs “more than 19,000 employees nationwide.” Two percent of that figure would number about 380 positions.

In this photo illustration, bottles of Modelo Especial beer sit on a table on June 14, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. The Mexican lager which is brewed by Constellation Brands became the top-selling beer in the United States in the month of May, overtaking Bud Light, which is brewed by Anheuser-Busch. A post by transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney about a personalized can of Bud Light stirred conservative boycotts of the American beer. A recent trend of drinkers choosing more Mexican beers and spirits has also uplifted the Modelo brand.

Read more: https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/07/26/business/anheuser-busch-layoffs-bud-light/index.html?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQGsAEggAID#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16904138116578&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2023%2F07%2F26%2Fbusiness%2Fanheuser-busch-layoffs-bud-light%2Findex.html

[hlthe2b]

1. This is so infuriating. So many lives damaged by this RW nonsense

I worry about the employees. I worry about the cities for which AB is a big part of the economy. And yeah, as a long-term Clydesdale fan, I worry about their future if Budweiser continues to take major hits. Their upkeep is incredibly costly. Damn the RW and their hate.

[jimfields33]

2. They didn't do well in the PR department

They ended up pissing of the LGBT community as well. The company will need to regroup.

[vercetti2021]

3. Sadly wasn't just the RW nonsense

It was bowing to the fascists and leaving Dylan to herself pissed off everyone else that would have supported them. Budweiser fucked themselves on this one.

[Igel]

21. Zero sum game, in this case.

You stop drinking X and start drinking Y, X reduces staff/production and Y increases it. There are losers, there are winners, but they're decided by demand and personal choice--driven by beliefs I think right or wrong, but still personal choice.

Now, doing an anti-alcohol campaign would reduce the consumption overall and that would cause industry contraction--again, personal choice. But those employee's would be altered abruptly without replacement jobs in the industry.

Then again, a lot of industries have been reducing their white-collar staff, and the extent that this is actually due to Bud Light's diminished market share is unknowable from the article.

[Initech]

4. Fuck you Kid Rock!

[The Grand Illuminist]

7. This is what happens when we laugh at them.

Not realizing the massive damage they have done. Much much deeper than what people think.

[Initech]

8. It was Kid Rock's stunt that set off this mass hysteria.

And it really is hysteria. The right wing is screaming like spoiled toddlers at Target who are mad that they don't get a shiny new toy until their parents break down and buy it for them. And now they're declaring July "America Pride" month. WTF. I'm so tired of the faketriots.

[The Grand Illuminist]

11. If you read the threads here...

Rock was laughed at because he acted like a toddler. I always keep saying that time is the right's greatest weapon. Now as a result, ordinary people lost their jobs because too many underestimated them and not counterattack.

[SarcasticSatyr]

5. Unfortunate ...

But Anheuser-Busch did a really poor job at damage control.

[Gore1FL]

6. It's unfortunate that people are losing their jobs.

Screw InBev, though. I don't care if people drink their GOP-supporting swill.

[LiberalFighter]

9. Hopefully the employees put the blame where it belongs. Kid Rock, Republicans, and others.

[SouthernDem4ever]

10. Who knew that conservative bigots were the only people drinking beer.

[keopeli]

12. LOL! Well said!

[JI7]

25. Maybe they were the ones mostly drinking that specific beer

[SouthernDem4ever]

26. I guess I should have said Bud Light.

[keopeli]

13. What happened to only buying American made products? Modelo is 'Hecho en Mexico.'

[MichMan]

14. What makes you think people switched from Bud Light to Modelo?

Just because the sales for Modelo are up doesn't mean it was all caused by former Bud Light buyers.

[keopeli]

15. I couldn't find the "tongue-in-cheek" emoji. Sorry.

I understand the logical fallacy in what I wrote, but I sacrificed a little 'logical leap' to attempt a bit of humor. Of course, now the joke is no longer funny. I'll try harder next time!

Mahalo!

[IronLionZion]

19. Anheuser Busch InBev is the parent company of both Modelo and Bud

it's a massive conglomerate

[keopeli]

20. You're right about ownership. But, Modelo is brewed and bottled in Mexico, then shipped to USA

That was my point. Thank you for helping me clarify what I wrote.

[Igel]

22. No, ILZ is wrong.

Outside the US, Modelo is owned by InBev.

Inside the US, it's not.

It's owned by Constellation Brands. (This is not a new insight or new information.)

https://www.cbrands.com/collections/beer

[Zeitghost]

28. Not in the US

Modelo sold in the US is brewed and distributed by Constellation Brands.

[TigressDem]

16. Never been much for Bud Light, but I might try their new Bud Light NEXT

Seems like it might be different. Way to support the company.

I've had some seltzers that taste good and light.

If I drink beer I do prefer a dark because to me light beer doesn't have a lot of taste. So might as well drink something that is more like flavored water and skip the carbs entirely.

[riversedge]

27. I prefer a dark beer myself.

[TigressDem]

30. Yeah, taste is better/more interesting for the most part.

I didn't like beer at all when I was younger. The fact that it already looks like piss to me is a disincentive to drink it.

BUT when I tried different types and then craft beers came out that was interesting at least.

The Russian Stout, Parabola, is probably the dark beer I judge all others against. I guess it has to compete with their vodka, so it has to be a beast. They age it in old oak whiskey or bourbon barrels and add a few more layers of flavor. I never was a huge wine connoisseur, but that is what it felt like. Drinking a beer that had all these different flavors to it.

But I am a real cheap date for drinks. 1 or 2 max. But since the tRUMP fiasco, I've probably drank more in these last since Covid than the entire rest of my life. I was completely uninterested in it for about 30 of my 60 years. In high school got really sick once or twice and decided it was mostly a stupid thing for me to do. Then married an alcoholic and stayed off it to support his sobriety.

So to stick it to his sorry a** and support Busch for being tolerant, I can make 1 or 2 drinks a week on their behalf.

[TigressDem]

31. Did try the Bud Light NEXT and I like it.

Zero carbs and tastes like flavored water.

4% ABV makes it fun.

[keithbvadu2]

17. Boycott?

GOP Bud Light $$$ supersedes morals

[truthisfreedom]

23. 380 jobs lost to Mexico because repukes hate America

Repukes can’t let trans people advertise beer, so they’re giving American jobs to Mexican companies.

[hunter]

24. Ironically, Anheuser-Busch owned the Medelo brand until 2013 when they sold it to Constellation.

It seems to me InBev, owners of Anheuser-Busch were looking to "simplify and reduce layers within its organization" anyways, and that this publicity snafu had little to do with that.

[tonekat]

29. I feel some guilt about not

buying a few packs of the can that was behind the controversy. But I really don't drink beer anymore. Yet, would a mass buy by trans folks and their allies have countered the goobers that lost their shit over it?

But, respect for others should not be transactional.