Anheuser Busch Lays Off Nearly 400 Corporate Workers as Bud Light Backlash Continues

Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch announced it will be slashing 2 percent off its employment roster, or nearly 400 positions, in an attempt to “simplify and reduce layers within its organization.”

“Today we took the very difficult but necessary decision to eliminate a number of positions across our corporate organization,” Anheuser-Busch chief executive Brendan Whitworth noted in a written statement. “While we never take these decisions lightly, we want to ensure that our organization continues to be set for future long-term success.”

Whitworth elaborated that frontline workers including “brewery and warehouse staff, drivers, and field sales, among others” would not be in the crosshairs. Instead, the restructuring will ostensibly focus on U.S.-based corporate staff instead, particularly in their New York, Los Angeles, and St. Louis offices, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The brand ignited a massive public backlash in April when its marketing department sent customized beer cans to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender TikTok influencer, as part of a social-media ad campaign. The partnership quickly proved financially catastrophic as consumers ditched the company in droves.

In April, Bud Light sales dropped 21.4 percent, while parent brand Budweiser lost 11.5 percent. Meanwhile, its major rival, Coors Light, experienced a 10.9 percent sales boost for the month. Even gay bars in cities across the country reportedly contributed to Bud Light’s losses, as the bars removed Anheuser-Busch products to protest the company’s tepid response to the blowback...more