DeSantis urges probe into Bud Light partnership with Dylan Mulvaney

Publish date: 2024-03-10

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday urged the head of the state’s investment portfolio to investigate Bud Light’s parent company as backlash over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney rages on — and its slumping sales may impact the Sunshine State’s pension investments.

DeSantis ordered a probe into Anheuser-Busch InBev to see if the company disregarded its duties to shareholders with Mulvaney’s ill-fated marketing gimmick that resulted in “staggering” financial losses, he wrote in a letter to the State Board of Administration. 

“It appears to me that AB InBev may have breached legal duties owed to its shareholders, and that a shareholder action may be both appropriate and necessary,” the 2024 Republican presidential candidate wrote to Lamar Taylor, SBA’s interim executive director.

“To protect SBA and the retirees of Florida from losses attributable to AB InBev’s disregard of those duties, all options are on the table,” he added. 

DeSantis told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Thursday that Florida has “over $50 million” worth of AB InBev stock in the state’s pension funds of about $180 billion. 

DeSantis called on the head of the state’s investment portfolio to investigate AB InBev for Bud Light’s controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. AP

“It has absolutely hurt teachers, it has absolutely hurt other pensioners,” the governor said of the beer giant’s declining sales. 

Data from Evercore ISI shows that in the 12-week period leading up to July 2, Bud Light’s sales fell by 27.1%. The timeframe includes much of the aftermath following Mulvaney’s social media post in April showing the custom can of Bud Light bearing her likeness that the embattled beer company provided her as part of a March Madness promotion.

The fallout from the controversy has hit other AB InBev beer brands, which have also suffered from declining sales. 

Florida holds about $50 million worth of AB InBev stock in its pension fund. Instagram
Sales of Bud Light have fallen 27% since the controversy. Christopher Sadowski

Budweiser’s sales volume fell by 13.5% and Busch Light’s declined by 9.8% over the same period.

All told, AB InBev beer sales were down 15.4% in the 12 weeks leading up to July 2, according to the Evercore ISI data.

“As sales of AB InBev products within the US continue to precipitously decline, reports are now emerging that large American mainstays like Costco will be pulling Bud Light from the shelves. Clearly, the Board’s mismanagement has led to this impasse – as well its failure to remediate the problem and repair its relationship with millions of disaffected American consumers – will continue to financially harm the SBA and other shareholders,” DeSantis wrote. 

“Our legal commitments and obligations, however, remain perfectly clear: we must prudently manage the funds of Florida’s hardworking law enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters, and first responders in a manner that focuses on growing returns, not subsidizing an ideological agenda through woke virtue signaling,” he added.

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