Billy Busch, an heir to the Anheuser-Busch beer company, offered to purchase its Bud Light brand in an effort to salvage its reputation. Bud Light has faced a significant consumer backlash after announcing a marketing partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney in April.
The beer family heir told conservative commentator Tomi Lahren that if Anheuser-Busch no longer wanted the brand, “sell it back to the Busch family.”
“Sell it to me,” he said. “I’ll be the first in line to buy that brand back from you, and we’ll make that brand great again.”
Busch also said that he was disappointed to see his family’s beer brand suffer a decline under its current management, saying that the company’s “culture is completely gone now.” The former management knew “who their drinkers were,” Busch said.
He added that Anheuser-Busch InBev’s status as a Belgian-owned company may play some role in why the brand has suffered a disconnect with its former consumers.
“When you are a foreign company and you rely on these woke students that are coming out of these local colleges to do your advertising for you, you’re making a big mistake.”
Anheuser-Busch heir Billy Busch wants to buy back Bud Light and make it great again! Would y’all buy it again if he did? https://t.co/M0d1B6177L
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) August 16, 2023
Anheuser-Busch’s last financial report showed that the company lost about $400 million in revenue last quarter. This represented about a 10% decline in revenue.
The company has further seen Bud Light’s sales figures decline year-over-year by about a third despite an aggressive push to offer rebates and discounts to purchase the brand. Bud Light recently lost its position as the most-sold beer in the country to Modelo Especial.
Earlier this month, the Anheuser-Busch heir criticized the company for its actions following the announcement of the Mulvaney partnership.
Busch said that his “ancestors would have rolled over in their graves,” adding that LGBT issues were “never meant to be on a beer can and never meant to be pushed in people’s faces.”
He said that consumers “want their beer to be truly American, truly patriotic, as it always has been. Truly, America’s beer, which Bud Light was and probably isn’t any longer.”
