First off, I usually don't write here about happenings with the large breweries, as it really isn't something I care about. The big breweries that is. This merger is taking so much press, and so many people have asked me what I think, I figured I'd examine it and make some short and sweet comments. Short and sweet mainly because while this is a big deal for the industry - all in all I don't see it making that big of an impact on the Bud beer drinker.
This union is a marriage of necessity. It helps Bud survive and grow hopefully as slowly but surely it's market share in the US errodes. This new organization really is what SAB and Miller did a few years back, where if you notice - no one really said a peep, and the impact has been good for SABMiller operations and cost cutting, but the Miller drinker and general beer drinker in general has not been impacted. That's what I see happening with Bud. Yes, it is sad that an other icon American organization - that was still majority family owned, sold out. But despite all the rehetoric and "not on my watch" talk - here we stand Bud owned by a European company. InBev will get the most of the deal, shared us distribution (which it was aleady doing with Bud - how come Stella is everywhere now, huh?) an in to maybe brew beers here, and exand some of their smaller brands into the US. Bud, gets reassurance I guess and capital and who knows - maybe they'll use this opportunity to transform themselves and do something different, I honestly don't think they will.
So, while I am no beer industry expert by far - I don't forsee any major impact on the market right away, or even the "short" long-term. This union will evenutally be putting beer all over the planet and that's amazing but it isn't like this is going to change the brand or beer or strategy. Things will continue as is, and the company will now streamline resources and operations to become more competitive against SABMiller. One has to wonder though, where does these live Coors?
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