Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Powered by Head Quarters Built on WordPress
You are here: Home / Breweries / Ouch, ABIB Begans New Round Of Layoffs

Ouch, ABIB Begans New Round Of Layoffs

February 19, 2010 By Jay Brooks

abib
Ouch, according to St. Louis Today, Anheuser Busch InBev has announced layoffs of 90 key people, including four vice-presidents. Some of the people let go “included workers responsible for handling every facet of the brewer’s national sales.” Though the layoffs were spread among 25 states, HQ in Missouri lost the most — 17 — and California lost 12, the second highest number by state. An inside source told the St. Louis newspaper they believe about 450 U.S. jobs will be cut over the next few months. Current President, Dave Peacock, told reporters that the cuts were designed to make ABIB “optimally organized and as efficient as possible,” as meaningless a bit of gobbledygook business-speak as I’ve heard in quite some time. Wasn’t this exactly what InBev said they would not do when they were courting the sale? But cost-cutting is classic InBev behavior, as we saw before the sale and have continued to see afterward, too. It comes as no surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention to their actions, and not their homilies, for the last several years. Now, with more cuts coming, you have a workforce that’s scared for their own jobs, not exactly the work environment anyone would enjoy. Maybe it will make some perform better, work harder, to save their livelihoods but in the end all it does is breed resentment and will likely be ABIB’s ultimate undoing, at least until the next bigger corporation swoops in and buys them.

Filed Under: Breweries, Editorial, News Tagged With: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Business, National, St. Louis



Comments

  1. Mitch says

    February 19, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    The article in St Louis today cites an increase to 8 sales regions, and also an increased focus on Budweiser and Bud Light.
    I distinctly remember 9 sales regions when I was at AB. I wonder when they cut to 5? This increase to 8 regions seems like none-news.
    “Gobbledygook business-speak”, that’s great term. Let’s face it, they are slashing jobs to cut costs, nothing more, nothing less.
    I still believe their “100% focus on Budweiser and Bud Light” that occured in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s contributed to the situation that allowed AB to be bought by Inbev in the first place. Gotta change with the times!

  2. Mr. Nuts says

    February 19, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    They’re paying down the debt used to make the purchase in the first place.

    AB, despite all its marketing firepower, hasn’t been able to create a brand capable of generating sales growth. They thought they could grow Rolling Rock — but managed to turn all its existing consumers off by moving production to Newark. Nothing like trying to build a brand by stepping on its heritage.

    Bean counters and MBAs can only take a business so far. Unfortunately, that mindset ran AB into a position where it could be bought in the first — and has done nothing but get worse since.

    Could very well wind up like Schlitz. Huge in its day — but nothing anymore.

  3. Serves M. Wright says

    February 20, 2010 at 10:09 am

    InBev has destroyed a classic American company — Anheuser-Busch, Inc. (ABI); and has left just the shell of a once proud company. Seemingly this new company is now overrun with backstabbers who appear proud as peacocks, along with their conniving “yes men”; and of course many, fear-stricken and over-worked employees. Great job, Boys from Belgium! ABI is DEAD. Long live the new “ABI” — Anything But Inbev!!

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Beer Bulletin Email

Enter your email address to receive daily digests:

Recent Comments

  • Martyn Cornell on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Dreher Jr.
  • Martyn Cornell on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Dreher Jr.
  • Martyn Cornell on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Dreher Jr.
  • Lucy Corne on Beer Birthday: Lucy Corne-Duthie
  • Kendall Staggs on Beer In Ads #4341: Miss Rheingold 1955 Filling Yuletide Requests

Recent Posts

  • Beer In Ads #4390: Which Will You Elect Miss Rheingold 1957? March 24, 2023
  • Beer Birthday: Jim Crooks March 24, 2023
  • Beer In Ads #4389: Miss Rheingold 1957 Finalists In The News March 23, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Michael Brand March 23, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Maximilian Schaefer March 23, 2023

Tag Cloud

Advertising Anheuser-Busch Announcements Bay Area Belgium Brewers Association Brewing Equipment Budweiser Business California Christmas Europe France Germany Guinness Health & Beer History Holidays Hops Humor Infographics Kegs Law Mainstream Coverage Miller Brewing Northern California Pabst Packaging Patent Pennsylvania Press Release Prohibitionists Rheingold San Francisco Schlitz Science Science of Brewing Sports Statistics The Netherlands UK Uncategorized United States Video Washington

The Sessions

session_logo_all_text_1500

Next Session: Dec. 7, 2018
#142: One More for the Road
Previous Sessions
  • #141: Future of Beer Blogging
  • #140: Pivo
  • #139: Beer & the Good Life
  • #138: The Good in Wood
  • #137: German Wheat
Archive, History & Hosting

Typology Tuesday

Typology-png
Next Typology:
On or Before March 29, 2016
#3: Irish-Style Dry Stout
Previous Typologies
  • #2: Bock Feb. 2016
  • #1: Barley Wine Jan. 2016
Archive & History

This month’s posts

March 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Feb    

BBB Archives

Go to mobile version