InBev Bolting on Buds Workers
August 13, 2008 by Robert Barr
Filed under Rants
Well that didn’t take long. I wonder if Carlos Brito had his fingers crossed when he told everyone that he wasn’t going to change anything after InBev completed its merger with Anheuser-Busch. Missed the headline? Here goes;
Budweiser to reduce salaried work force by 10 to 15 per cent
So they call them buyouts huh? It’s a salary swap if ever there was one. Offer your older (more expensive) employees a buyout and replace them with a fresh (cheaper) crop of 18 year olds that just graduated. Only employees 55 years old or older as of December 31, 2008 are eligible.
The group totals about 360 people who have spent their lives making and packing, shipping and selling Budweiser. You know, the American beer. The King of Beers reports the extermination could cost up to $500 million over the next two quarters with $2.7 million going to CFO W. Randolph Baker. You didn’t think InBev was going to keep Busch’s money man did you?
G. Carter on Thu, 14th Aug 2008 7:54 am
Anheuser-Busch announced the early retirement program prior to agreeing to a buyout from InBev. It was part of what was a cost-saving program dubbed Blue Ocean (or something similar). In fact, on Tuesday Busch announced it was sweetening the buyouts.
Robert Barr on Thu, 14th Aug 2008 9:01 am
Hi G. Carter!
Your right, it was announced prior to agreeing to be bought, but during the negotiations. So it was a cost savings measure at most, a weak attempt at a poison pill at least.
Thanks for stopping by!!