The parent company of Bud Light announced this week that it would be selling eight beverage brands as the consumer fallout regarding a failed partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney continues. Anheuser-Busch is transferring the brewing divisions to a company better known for marketing cannabis.
The deal between Anheuser-Busch and Tilray Brands Inc. includes a number of niche brands, including the popular beverage Shock Top. It is also selling a San Francisco-based energy drink division, HiBall Energy.
Anheuser-Busch has been forced to sell several brands https://t.co/FBytckN2QZ
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 8, 2023
The deal comes as Anheuser-Busch InBev continues to deal with its April marketing push with Mulvaney. The company lost $395 million in revenue year-over-year since the partnership was announced.
Beer industry analysts have remarked that Bud Light will likely carry the effects of the consumer backlash indefinitely.
Former Anheuser-Busch President of Operations Anson Frericks told Fox Business last week that the company would “need to find somebody in the U.S. that can turn this business around, get these loyal Bud Light customers back.”
The company has also faced unprecedented pressure on its operations due to the boycott. The company announced up to 300 layoffs last month. This came after a number of Bud Light distributors reported that they did not expect their margins from sales of the beverage to recover in the near term.
A key bottler for the beverage announced last month that it was shutting down two plants and laying off about 600 employees.
The Ardagh Group announced the closure of its facilities in North Carolina and Louisiana. While the company did not express the specific reason for the shuttering, a mechanic onsite said that it was due to “the Bud Light situation.”
A further internal memo from the company stated that the closures and layoffs were “due to slow sales with Anheuser-InBev.”
Bud Light’s sales have continued a significant slump, falling almost 26% in the last several weeks of July. The company also lost its place as the most-sold beer brand in the country to Modelo Especial, which saw an increase in sales of almost 15% during the same period.
