Bud Light Boycott Has Already Cost Anheuser-Busch $15 Billion With More Storm Clouds Brewing
Ever drunkingly put in a ridiculous parlay for Sunday Night Football trying to win back all your money from the day, and then wake up Monday morning and see your DraftKings account is down another $20? Now imagine you're an accountant for Bud Light.
Nearly two full months into the Dylan Mulvaney fiasco, alarms bells are ringing 24/7 at Anheuser-Busch as sales, stocks and future earnings continue to tumble.
The latest wave of storm clouds comes from Investor's Business Daily, which said Tuesday Anheuser-Busch's market value has already dropped a staggering $15.7 billion since April 1.
That's billion with a b.
"We believe there is a subset of American consumers who will not drink a Bud Light for the foreseeable future," JP Morgan analyst Jared Binges told his clients.
"We believe a 12% to 13% volume decline on an annualized basis would be a reasonable assumption."
Bud Light boycott sends Anheuser-Busch spiraling
My God. We've gone from, 'this will be over in a few weeks tops,' to 'they're gonna lose 12-13% annually,' real fast.
Like everything else in the Bud Light and AB world right now ... it gets worse.
While sales and stocks over at Mulvaney Light have plunged steadily, literally everyone else is in the green.
According to investors, other major publicly traded global beer brands have added $3.2 billion in market value since Bud Light plastered Mulvaney on a can back on April 1.
Again, that's billion with a b.
Sales have fallen off a cliff for Bud Light -- the recent numbers show another 23% drop -- while Coors Light, Miller Lite, Modelo and Yuengling are also soaring. Meanwhile, JPMorgan analysts believe Anheuser-Busch earnings could plunge nearly 26% by the end of this fiscal year in October.
Shares are already down nearly 12% since April 1, while Molson Coors is up more than 20%.
"Nobody imagined it would go on this long," Beer Business Daily editor and publisher Harry Schuhmacher said, according to NBC.
"It seems random — it struck a nerve. I've never seen anything to compare it to, in all of the industry. It’s a real shock."