Anheuser-Busch, the company that owns the Bud Light brand, announced Wednesday that it is beginning a restructuring operation in which it will lay off more than 300 employees. According to the company, those affected are corporate positions in the United States. The layoffs represent about 2% of the world's largest brewer's total of 19,000 employees worldwide.
According to Anheuser-Busch, front-line personnel will not be affected by this wave of layoffs. Only corporate-level management positions are at risk. Anheuser-Busch's decision comes months after controversy erupted over their collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney, a trans TikToker, to advertise Bud Light beer.
My local bar finally gave up & is removing Bud Light completely from the bar permanently. pic.twitter.com/8LjJK8M6Lu
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) July 27, 2023
In reaction to the campaign with Mulvaney, Americans conducted a harsh boycott over the whitewashing of a profile like Dylan Mulvaney. It was an outright rejection of the woke ideology by consumers. It caused a significant drop in Bud Light sales, just before a season of high consumption of cold beer, such as summer. The value of Anheuser-Busch shares also fell and Modelo Especial beer, of Mexican origin, ended up gaining positions in the rankings at the expense of Bud Light.
Bud Light tastes like… pic.twitter.com/RfldTKMjVo
— J.W. Gibbons (@JoelWGibbonsV) July 24, 2023
"Today we have made the very difficult but necessary decision to eliminate a number of positions throughout our corporate organization," stated Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch. "While we never take these decisions lightly, we want to ensure that our organization remains poised for future long-term success."
Sales of Bud Light and Budweiser, its sister brand, fell 28% and 11.7%, respectively, compared to the same time last year. Sales figures for Modelo rose by 8.5%.
