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Anheuser Busch is doing fine, Ron

Published on 31 Comments on Anheuser Busch is doing fine, Ron

This might be Ron DeSantis's most embarrassing pander yet:

Uh huh. Here is InBev's stock price over the past five years:

InBev stock dropped by half in 2020 and the state of Florida was unconcerned.

It dropped by a quarter in 2021 and the state of Florida was unconcerned.

It dropped by a third in 2022 and the state of Florida was unconcerned.

Then, in the month of April 2023, following the Dylan Mulvaney boycott, it dropped 2.4% and is currently trading at almost exactly its value on January 1. And yet suddenly the state of Florida is worried about its legal obligation to "prudently manage the funds of Florida's hardworking enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters, and first responders."

Anheuser-Busch is doing fine. Go back to your cave, Ron.

31 thoughts on “Anheuser Busch is doing fine, Ron”

  1. KJK

    I thought only pinko commies want the government to control the means of production, so now DeathSantis wants to determine Anheuser Busch's marketing plan and what they believe is their business's best long term interest?

    He can put the Florida municipal pension plan investment into, Trump's Truth company, crypto currency, the MyPillow company, and American Outdoor Brands (Smith & Wesson) for all I care.

    1. wvmcl2

      He is basically saying that government should intervene to determine how a private company should promote its products. I can't really think of a more invasive government intervention than that.

  2. bbleh

    Aw, it's just a current conjuring-word. He might as well show up in a dark cloak with a wand and chant "Bud Light, I renounce thee, I abjure thee!"

    In a month or two nobody will remember or care, and whoever he's "directing" to "investigate" won't even remember which trash can they threw his "order" in the moment they got it.

  4. different_name

    Aw, Puddin' ain't getting the love he wants. Some feelings for the poor little guy.

    Seriously, this is just pathetic. Dude's got nothing but flop sweat, and it shows.

    I don't want to jinx it, but it seems like all the right losers are lining up to lose. Puddin' in the primary, and then Emperor Tang in the general, whose consolation prize includes a lot of court time.

  6. Bose

    And as Steve M. pointed out, at worst, the FL pension fund has lost $5.4M on AB recently, or 0.0028% of its $180B portfolio.

    The thing that sticks out to me is that GOP business owners are looking at DeSantis thinking, waitaminute, we've promoted non-interference, zero-regulation of business only to land here?

  7. sonofthereturnofaptidude

    I'm a long way from Ron Desantis, and I can still smell the desperation. If he really won't back down, as his slogan says, this will be a long and embarrassing primary season for Desperation Desantis.

  9. D_Ohrk_E1

    Ron's campaign is failing. Expect more redirection in the culture wars.

    BTW, how much did Florida pensioners lose on Musk's Tesla stocks? Just asking.

      1. CAbornandbred

        I'm shocked. Loads of Florida money invested in all manner of Chinese investment vehicles. Impeach the traitor Ron.

  11. Anandakos

    AB InBev is NOT a mutual fund. The managers for funds have a legal fiduciary responsibility to their investors, who are called "shareholders" but they're really "junior partners". You can't sell your "shares" in a mutual fund to a third party. All you can do is withdraw your investment.

    The Board of Directors has some fiduciary responsibility, but it's not anything like Ron DeSantis thinks it is. They have the responsibility to ensure that management is not ripping off the shareholders by padding deals to apparent third parties and meeting contractual obligations. But they're not beholden to any specific group of shareholders.

    1. MikeTheMathGuy

      Exactly!
      If the state of Florida doesn't want to invest in ESG, DEI, or whatever conjuring acronym they object to, so be it -- sell the stock. (I'm sure InBev is quaking in their boots at the prospect.) Owning some stock doesn't make your values a legal requirement on an international corporation registered in some other state. Even if they made a bad business decision that resulted in a lower stock price -- and the jury is still out on that one -- it would hardly be a first in the history of American capitalism.

    2. iamr4man

      >> They have the responsibility to ensure that management is not ripping off the shareholders by padding deals to apparent third parties and meeting contractual obligations.<<

      Clearly not the type of investment Trump would have anything to do with!

  12. tigersharktoo

    I wonder if Ronnie is calling for the pension funds to divest insurance companies that will no longer sell insurance in Florida due to Florida being a bad risk?

    Maybe the good play would to invest in AmBev. People in Florida are going to need beer when the next hurricane hits. And they have no insurance.

  13. Justin

    InBev is HQ in Belgium… which is falling apart! I’m as temperamentally liberal as anyone (really!) but I’m also a realist.

    https://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-break-up-flanders-wallonia-tom-van-grieken-vlaams-belang-far-right/

    “There is “a wave of tremendous unease” among citizens who feel “economically abandoned by their own elites,” he told POLITICO. “And as unfair as you may find that, the far right is capitalizing.” In the polls, his party, the N-VA, is now the second biggest in Flanders, after Vlaams Belang. Potential voters for Vlaams Belang see migration as the most important political issue, followed by taxes and the economy.”

    We keep pretending we have the high moral ground on these cultural / migration issues. It’s a lonely place, though.

    1. wvmcl2

      Belgium has been "falling apart" forever, and even if it finally does this time it will have exactly zero effect on the fortunes of InBev and is completely irrelevant to the issue at hand.

      1. Justin

        I don’t think it’s irrelevant at all. The left is a small minority. I’m part of it, but I recognize I’m fringe.

      2. Anandakos

        The Belgian conundrum is "Why?" Why was it ever created in the first place? The northern half wants to be Dutch, while the southern half wants to be French.

        [Actually, I do know why it was created: to keep the Dutch and French out of each others' business by cramming some Dutch with a bunch of Frenchies and letting them figure out how to get along.]

        1. wvmcl2

          No the northern half does not want to be Dutch - it wants to be independent. Incorporating it into the Netherlands is not an option. In fact it already left the Netherlands, back in the 1830s.

          Personally, I wouldn't bet any money on Belgium actually breaking up.

  14. cld

    An important distinction between Trump and DeSantis is that Trump has a genius at creating rhetorical confusion, and plausible confusion, which his fans think is clever, where DeSantis is just a lump with a bad odor that he thinks is clever.

  16. Yikes

    I suppose there is no point in asking this question, but did a purported candidate for President of the United States just begin a tweet with the words: “We kneecapped …….”

    I read it twice. Perhaps Kevin finally has his answer as to Trumps approval rating.

  17. J. Frank Parnell

    Lenin reputedly said, "the capitalists will sell us the rope we use to hang them". As opposed to the capitalists who have always maintained: "Yes, but we will provide the rope the facists use to hang us gratis".

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