Word: a-b
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...where growth and creativity had gone stale. It comes at a time when hard liquor and wine have captured the imagination (and wallets) of growing numbers of pub crawlers and partygoers. Although Anheuser-Busch's roughly 50% share of the U.S. market still vastly outweighs Miller's 18%--and A-B's sheer size affords it huge advantages in distribution and marketing--Miller is no longer being dismissed as a dinosaur destined to fade away like Schlitz, another once popular Milwaukee beer. In the first quarter of 2004, Miller's volume grew a healthy 3.4%, while sales of its flagship...
...heated as it is, the escalating battle between Miller and A-B in the U.S. is only one part of a much wider heavyweight fight for beer drinkers around the globe. For decades the beer business has been relatively fragmented, dominated by local tastes and brewers. In recent years, multinational players like Anheuser-Busch, SABMiller, Heineken and Interbrew have embarked on a wave of consolidation, buying up smaller brands in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia. In May, SABMiller and A-B briefly engaged in a bidding war for Harbin, the fourth largest brewery in China, which...
...therefore ineligible, Budweiser's talking lizards informed viewers, to run for "president of beers." The legal offensive has since been dropped, but the bad blood persists. "They'll lead you to believe the ads are all part of their plan, but really it's desperate," says Michael Owens, A-B's new vice president of sales and marketing. "They've got all their juice on one brand--we're giving it back, in kind...
...Harbin Brewery rejected SABMiller's bid. And, on May 2, A-B itself won the right to buy the shares, which had been sold to an investment group (both transactions await government approval). With the two beer giants now holding roughly equal stakes, something had to give...
...company tried something new. Because the remaining 40-odd percent of shares are listed on the open market in Hong Kong, it was able to issue last week's buyout offer for all outstanding shares. Harbin Brewery's ceo has been vociferous about his preference for a marriage with A-B, but the decision isn't his to make. Instead, his company's future hinges on shareholders, who should soon vote on SABMiller's bid?or on an expected counteroffer from A-B. For the first time, the fate of a Chinese company hangs on overseas shareholders...