Bud Light’s partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney earlier this month has put its parent company, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, in the middle of the culture war — and stockholders are suffering.
The trans endorsement was met with fury from conservative social media personalities, who attacked the company for turning to “woke” advertising and called for a boycott of the brand.
As a result, sales of the beer have cratered and the company has experienced a “shockwave” up and down its supply chain. The brand’s social media accounts have been completely silent since April 1.
The stock price of Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch Inbev (NYSE: BUD), has been impacted negatively as a result.
Inbev has lost approximately $5 billion in value since March 31st, a 4 percent drop in overall value. The company’s market capitalization went from $132.38 billion to $127.13 billion as of Wednesday’s close.
Before the boycott, Inbev had enjoyed a strong year and had seen its stock price climb 7.75 percent since the New Year.
A financial expert reportedly told The New York Post that it was “too early” to judge whether the boycott will have staying power — but insiders have the impression that it could hurt the brand badly.
“This boycott seems to have more legs than most,” a beer industry trade expert told the NY Post. “It started out as a conversation on social media and has breached into mainstream media.”
Anecdotal evidence from distributors seems to back that assessment —
Bud Light decided to prioritize Wokeness over their customers, now they’re hurting the people who are selling their beer
Merchandiser who sells their products to stores: “I've never seen such little sales as in the past few days… I can't feed my family”pic.twitter.com/8g41TUFpOl
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 11, 2023
The Horn editorial team