I'm not sure I would drink anything Budweiser makes if I had no choice if AB hadn't sold out, but I do love their ads, especially the ones they've done over the years featuring the Clydesdales (which are synonymous with Budweiser) and other patriotic ones they've done from time to time (soldiers coming home through the airport, anyone?). I'm really afraid they are going to trash everything AB has worked for all these decades and put their own spin on it and destroy the branding. From a marketing standpoint, it gives me the whillies - not to mention very, very sad!

Budweiser is the most foul tasting beer around. Glad it's sold. Send all of the people who drink it to Europe as well.

I used to drink about two cases of Bud Light a week. I now drink Miller Lite.

Someone should mention to InBev that having a spokesperson with the last name of Devlin in St. Louis is a bad idea. Could bring up some bad recent memories. Just a suggestion for our new European masters.

Drink Jack Daniels, it tastes better and is american owned and operated.

Going to Miller is pointless since they are owned by the British and Coors is owned by the Canadians (well its a merger so I guess 50/50). There are still plenty of American owned brewers. I am personally switching from Budweiser to perhaps Yuenglings or Sam Adams. Anheiser-Busch, Miller and Coors are dead to me.

I don't really drink much anymore, a beer with dinner at Chilis / Fridays perhaps. I will just make sure it is not a Budweiser.

San Diego has a huge microbrew selection. We don't see many all-Bud or all-Coors bars anymore. Having said that, if I'm going to drink Belgian beer it's gonna be Stella, not Budweiser. Good luck selling the weak, watery American beers outside the US. It hasn't worked for the past hundred years...

Which makes me think that the actual object of the purchase is less owning the Bud brand and more buying assets (SeaWorld?) and selling them off. Ah, the good old 80s.

I guess i will drink my Dutch beer while watching my Chinese TV, Paying for it by driving to work on Arab gasoline. Didn't we separate from England to avoid a similar situation in the first place?

TO ALL SHAREHOLDERS OF A-B:

DO NOT APPROVE THE DEAL!!!!!! there is still a chance that A-B will stay an AMERICAN company. i live in st. louis and I LOVE everything about A-B.

1. They gave 13 MILLION to charites in 2006. guess what inbev gave... that's right NOTHING!!!!!!! for all of the profits that they make, they couldn't manage to give even a little bit to people who really need help.

2. The CLYDESDALES, i love visting them at grant's farm (which i'll get to in the next point), i love their jingle, and i just cant imagine them advertising some other brand like Stella Artois (crap name, isn't it?). they belong to AMERICA, not belgiums and brazillians.

3. WHAT about all of the parks? i grew up visting grant's farm. and we go there several times a year, and it just holds so much value to the community. i went there on field trips from school and summer camp. They have a tour whre you can see animals like Zebra, black buck antelope, and buffulo, up close, things that you would never see in Missouri. Busch also owns Sea World, and Busch gardens, and Busch Wildlife, i love visiting them, and if they end up in the hands of belgiums, they will change everything about them.

4. Taste. i have never tasted A-B, since i am not old enough eyt. but everyone in my family loves the taste of A-B. the say that it's the best beer around, and they are considering switching if the plan does go through. they say that it's something that you have to taste for yourself to truely find out how wonderful it is.

5. Pride. last but not least is pride, Budweiser has been an American company since 1852. that's over 155 years of being an american company, why let some EUROPEANS take it over, somethings just need to stay in amreican, and Busweiser is one of them. it's just something that seems american.

All shareholders, look beyond your wallets and into the pride of the country. the econoy will improve, and it is improving right now, in a few years, you'll says that $70 was too cheap to sell out part of the soul of the country to some europeans. st. louis will suffer if this deal goes through. But there is still a chance, Americans fought Europeans in 1776, to fight for our country and the rights that come with it. we were faced by europeans who seemed a lot stronger than us, and it was almost certain that they would win, but somehow we pulled through, and we won. We CAN pull through, just look past the money and look into the future. DO WE WANT EUROPEANS RUNNING AMERICA?? OR do we wants AMREICANS running AMERICA? we are proud country, and i want AMERICANS running America. just look into what you would want the future to be. and please, please make the right decision, and keep A-B in america. thanks for reading.

AB only gave 13 million to charity? What a shame. I think there is a market for Budweiser in some of the Asian countries. Most of their beer is light lagers, and the fact that AB has American history will score big in those regions.

As for the loss to America... We don't seem to give a f_ck about the nobility of our country in the firt place, so this comes as no surprise.

Hey ts_222222, go shove a belgian waffle up your A#S. Do some basic research on the company and you'll see that AB has done MUCH for ST Louis than $13 million. "CHARITY AND GOODWILL

In February, the auditorium at Anheuser-Busch headquarters was packed with brewery employees, executives and top officials of the Department of Homeland Security. Dave Peacock, vice president of marketing, stepped up to the podium to tout Anheuser-Busch's good deed: a $250,000 donation to the local Red Cross, seed money for a new emergency preparedness program.

It was a big show, with Anheuser-Busch in a familiar place: center stage, the deep pockets behind charity and the unofficial big brother of the area's businesses.

"Along with the leadership, they provided the support," said Joe White, chief executive of the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter. "Anheuser-Busch has been a tremendous assistance in all facets."

But it isn't just the Red Cross. The BackStoppers Police Officers and Firefighters Fund, Habitat for Humanity ... the list goes on. Last year, Anheuser-Busch gave approximately $10 million to charities in the St. Louis region.

"Anheuser-Busch is just phenomenally supportive," said Gary Dollar, chief executive of United Way of Greater St. Louis. His group received pledges totaling more than $3 million — the most from any company — from Anheuser-Busch and its employees in the fall fundraising campaign. "You can really count on the people of A-B."

PETTING ZOOS, COUNTRY CLUBS

Initially, St. Louis blue bloods wouldn't accept the Busches because of their new money, strange names and unseemly business. But the family fought its way into area high society and, ultimately, came to sit atop it.

Consider the family's personal recreation. Denied membership at the premier area country club, August A. Busch Sr. built what would become the 168-acre Sunset Country Club in south St. Louis County. In 1927, August A. "Gussie" Busch Jr. founded the Bridlespur Hunt, a fox-hunting club in Huntleigh. The club is now in rural Lincoln County. Recent generations of Busches — along with cousins such as the Orthweins and von Gontards — have taken to polo, the ultimate game of the leisure class.

To Schlafly, whose 17-year-old company makes beers of the same name, the St. Louis version of Camelot was on display every time Gussie Busch would wave to the ballpark masses from his perch on the Clydesdale-pulled beer wagon.

"What was amazing was the reaction in the bleachers, where these guys making six or seven dollars an hour would rush to buy beer to toast 'Gussie' the billionaire ... If Diana was the People's Princess, he was the People's King."

With his penchant for yachts, thoroughbreds and private railcars, it's hard to think of Gussie Busch as a man of the people. He was, however, a big believer in the company's long-standing motto: "Making friends is our business."

To win new friends among the working class, he did more than buy the Cardinals. He allowed Joe Six-Pack the chance to bring his own family for free to Grant's Farm, the 281-acre estate built decades earlier by Adolphus Busch. An immediate hit, the unusual combination of game preserve, presidential history and Gemütlichkeit has drawn more than 24 million visitors.

The Busches worked as hard as they played. Gussie's son, August Busch III, hired a bevy of MBA graduates and waged battle against rival Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee.

The Third demanded excellence and got it, keeping Anheuser-Busch on top of the U.S. brewing industry every year. His son, August A. Busch IV, who now runs the company, is pushing the company to grow faster.

"They worked your tail off, let you work to 100 percent of your ability," said Bill Finnie, a former A-B strategic planner who is now an adjunct professor of strategy at Washington University. "We kicked butt, and we enjoyed the process."

The question now is whether Anheuser-Busch, long dogged by slow growth in the United States, will have to bow to the pressure if InBev submits a generous formal offer.

The city doesn't want shareholders to ignore these contributions if a bid is made. Jeff Rainford, chief of staff to Mayor Francis Slay, said city officials planned to send a letter to area shareholders, pointing out the contributions of an independent Anheuser-Busch — including concerts and more than $12 million in city taxes. The letter will urge investors to take the local impact — as well as the company's share price — into account if they vote their shares on a takeover proposal.

Missouri Historical Society President Robert Archibald said the disappearance of Anheuser-Busch would be an especially heavy loss for the metropolitan psyche. Archibald notes the company is the most prominent vestige of 19th century, German St. Louis. And it's the nexus of "the two things St. Louis historically has cared about most: beer and baseball," he said.

But the company is even bigger than that, Archibald said.

"Anheuser-Busch seems like the last one standing in a city that already feels it has lost too many big corporate names," he said. "And the brewery isn't just a company, or even a family. It's part of our civic identity."

Hey ts_222222, I suggest you do some basic research before you comment on anything. AB has done far more for St Louis than give them $13 million. I suggest you roll up a Belgian waffle and shove it up your A*S. In the mean time here is something for you to read.
"CHARITY AND GOODWILL

In February, the auditorium at Anheuser-Busch headquarters was packed with brewery employees, executives and top officials of the Department of Homeland Security. Dave Peacock, vice president of marketing, stepped up to the podium to tout Anheuser-Busch's good deed: a $250,000 donation to the local Red Cross, seed money for a new emergency preparedness program.

It was a big show, with Anheuser-Busch in a familiar place: center stage, the deep pockets behind charity and the unofficial big brother of the area's businesses.

"Along with the leadership, they provided the support," said Joe White, chief executive of the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter. "Anheuser-Busch has been a tremendous assistance in all facets."

But it isn't just the Red Cross. The BackStoppers Police Officers and Firefighters Fund, Habitat for Humanity ... the list goes on. Last year, Anheuser-Busch gave approximately $10 million to charities in the St. Louis region.

"Anheuser-Busch is just phenomenally supportive," said Gary Dollar, chief executive of United Way of Greater St. Louis. His group received pledges totaling more than $3 million — the most from any company — from Anheuser-Busch and its employees in the fall fundraising campaign. "You can really count on the people of A-B."

PETTING ZOOS, COUNTRY CLUBS

Initially, St. Louis blue bloods wouldn't accept the Busches because of their new money, strange names and unseemly business. But the family fought its way into area high society and, ultimately, came to sit atop it.

Consider the family's personal recreation. Denied membership at the premier area country club, August A. Busch Sr. built what would become the 168-acre Sunset Country Club in south St. Louis County. In 1927, August A. "Gussie" Busch Jr. founded the Bridlespur Hunt, a fox-hunting club in Huntleigh. The club is now in rural Lincoln County. Recent generations of Busches — along with cousins such as the Orthweins and von Gontards — have taken to polo, the ultimate game of the leisure class.

To Schlafly, whose 17-year-old company makes beers of the same name, the St. Louis version of Camelot was on display every time Gussie Busch would wave to the ballpark masses from his perch on the Clydesdale-pulled beer wagon.

"What was amazing was the reaction in the bleachers, where these guys making six or seven dollars an hour would rush to buy beer to toast 'Gussie' the billionaire ... If Diana was the People's Princess, he was the People's King."

With his penchant for yachts, thoroughbreds and private railcars, it's hard to think of Gussie Busch as a man of the people. He was, however, a big believer in the company's long-standing motto: "Making friends is our business."

To win new friends among the working class, he did more than buy the Cardinals. He allowed Joe Six-Pack the chance to bring his own family for free to Grant's Farm, the 281-acre estate built decades earlier by Adolphus Busch. An immediate hit, the unusual combination of game preserve, presidential history and Gemütlichkeit has drawn more than 24 million visitors.

The Busches worked as hard as they played. Gussie's son, August Busch III, hired a bevy of MBA graduates and waged battle against rival Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee.

The Third demanded excellence and got it, keeping Anheuser-Busch on top of the U.S. brewing industry every year. His son, August A. Busch IV, who now runs the company, is pushing the company to grow faster.

"They worked your tail off, let you work to 100 percent of your ability," said Bill Finnie, a former A-B strategic planner who is now an adjunct professor of strategy at Washington University. "We kicked butt, and we enjoyed the process."

The question now is whether Anheuser-Busch, long dogged by slow growth in the United States, will have to bow to the pressure if InBev submits a generous formal offer.

The city doesn't want shareholders to ignore these contributions if a bid is made. Jeff Rainford, chief of staff to Mayor Francis Slay, said city officials planned to send a letter to area shareholders, pointing out the contributions of an independent Anheuser-Busch — including concerts and more than $12 million in city taxes. The letter will urge investors to take the local impact — as well as the company's share price — into account if they vote their shares on a takeover proposal.

Missouri Historical Society President Robert Archibald said the disappearance of Anheuser-Busch would be an especially heavy loss for the metropolitan psyche. Archibald notes the company is the most prominent vestige of 19th century, German St. Louis. And it's the nexus of "the two things St. Louis historically has cared about most: beer and baseball," he said.

But the company is even bigger than that, Archibald said.

"Anheuser-Busch seems like the last one standing in a city that already feels it has lost too many big corporate names," he said. "And the brewery isn't just a company, or even a family. It's part of our civic identity."

Unacceptable. THe fact that one of the most respected, deeply rooted and loyal American companies is selling out America is unacceptable. Most of the corporate giants in America have sold out already, so I guess it shouldn't suprise me, but AB...come on! Where are we as American's going to draw the line...now "American" cars are made in Mexico, all of our brilliant inventions and patents were sold to Asian countries and we're getting killed/overtaken on our own turf by every other country, with no overseas success to balance us out.

This is rediculous, and it's indicative of what Bill O'Reilly's Culture Warrior states and has been stating...an all out Culture War and Moral American Decline...a war we are loosing fast. The wealthy stockholders and CEO's can't even look past yesterday to appreciate the red-white-and-blue that made them filthy rich enough to appreciate what got them there. What ever happened to real men with loyalty, the kind that would take another beating in a prison camp so as not to sell out his fellow American's and the American Flag?

We are in a fast downward spiral, going straight down the toilet like the trash we've let ourselves become. At the end of this year, when America is run by the minority with a far left agenda who has no respect for the constitution no morals, no values, it'll only go down the tank even faster...all is lost.

Say goodbye to Christmas and say hello to more teenage pregnancy and violence. Be prepared for a more pronounced educational decline and a reduction in the quality of health care. Energy...I guess we all have to go buy a Prius and freeze our asses off in the winter so Obama can save enough to hold out untill wind energy can run America.

There's almost nothing left to hold on to, you can't convince American's to have pride and take their country back when most of them aren't proud to be American in the first place...

They "had" to sell, come on. Every time I go to a sporting event I see vendors pushing LaBatt Blue/Light. What the hell is that? That's about as disgusting as a beer can get. You know it's the marketing, plain and simple. Bud needs to get its "can" out there and start pushing these sports arenas in carrying their brand. AB across the board. Might be too late for that. If that doesn't work, try Yuengling. The oldest brewery in America, family owned, made in Pennsylvania. www.yuengling.com

Budweiser will certainly remain an American product. It was born here and will continue to be brewed here. In no way did the company "sell out". This was a hostile takeover that left Anheuser Busch no choice. The main shareholders (who have ALL of the power in this type of deal) are banks who couldn't care less about anything except money. The average shareholder cannot make a difference at this point.

Luckily, InBev has no plans to close any of the American breweries at this time. It is definitely a sad thing, but boycotting or switching products isn't the way to help. It will make no difference in the outcome of the deal and will only hurt job prospects for employees of AB breweries. There is not one large beer company that is American owned. Miller is South African and Coors is Canadian....so putting your money there isn't benefiting America either.

This really isn't a big deal to me. American beer is not very good anyways. Not to mention, Budweiser is a very popular brand throughout the world, they're going to do just fine. As a matter of fact, I was in the UK and went to an English Soccer match and the only beer I could buy was Bud and Bud Light as they are the official beer sponsors of the English Premier League. I was shocked and disappointed and Budweiser is terrible. Maybe InBev's purchase of A-B will make Stella Artois a little cheaper in the stores as European beer blows American beer away.

Drink American microbrews! The quality is a quantum leap above AB brands.

If A-B can't satisfy the expectations of its shareholders, then somebody who can should buy it out. A-B's sales have been waning for years. If InBev has to cut a few jobs or sell off Busch Gardens, then that is not only their prerogative, but their duty in order to maximize shareholder value.

I can promise you that InBev knows what makes Bud sell in America (ads, fiercely pro-American, certainly not the taste anyway) and they are not going to do anything so drastic as to sacrifice their product's largest market.

I'll never understand the jingoism that comes from people when it regards to "American" products. I am an American and I love my country, but when it comes to my purchases, I feel absolutely no compulsion to "Buy American." I believe that the pride of American industry comes from doing it better or cheaper than the other guys, not relying on sentimentalism or government protection to maintain dominance. Manufacturing jobs and purely American owned-and-operated companies are going the way of the dodo in the US. It's time to embrace the change and get ahead of the technology and education curve so we can compete in the future, not cling to the trappings of the past.

I personally will go out of my way to never drink a Budweiser again. I am not a huge beer drinker, but on the occasions where I do go and buy beer (in Penn Station, NY on a Friday after work, for cookouts, tailgating, or reunions with my frat brothers) it will not be anything A-B is making. I spent a year living in France playing on a baseball team, and when we would watch MLB.com it was always with a Budweiser in hand. Those who say that Budweiser is not a symbol of America, and that this isn't a big deal, are just plain wrong.

Regardless of your specific politics, I feel like most people in this country, for whatever reasons they may have, feel that things here today just keep getting worse. No more pride in civic government, or religious faith, or business ethics, or whatever your issue is. This, to me, is just another manifestation of that. America for sale to the highest bidder. We should just plant a big "FOR SALE" sign right in the middle of the breadbasket and be done with it already. Just like everything else in America today, it's about two things, money and power.

It just makes me sick.

I will never drink a Bud again, unless I'm at a party and that's all they got.

--Brad, Age 24 (central NJ)

This is toooooo funny. Now the folks can go to the Great American race, drink their European beer and watch their Japanese Toyota's go round and round.................................................................

As with all take overs things will change, maybe not right away. I have been through a couple of take overs and they said we will keep things as they are but then they start bringing in their people and than things are different, they said we need to train our people in how to do things, once these people were trained we were gone. Once their brewers learn how to make Bud and all the others, well all we can do is wait. They use all kinds of excuses as to why so I would keep my eyes out for new jobs. just my 2 cents.

Im sure the europeans will enjoy the Budweiser headches they will get after drinking a few. yuengling or sam adams is where im going. is rolling rock american?

As a former St Louis resident of many years I am stunned by this decision. While on the first glance it makes sense dollarwise for the stockholders, it certainly offends US citizens and particularly the St.Louis folks who have worked for AB and beer fans who consumed their products for decades. This company was a huge source of local pride.

So now I guess the Clydesdales and the traditional Budweiser song will be a thing of the past...how very sad that a once proud symbol and tradition is diminished so that the stockholders can put more dollars in their pockets. Shame, shame, shame!