Bud Light parent company announces wave of corporate layoffs following downturn in sales

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.

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.

"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%.