(Daily Mail) - The heir to the waning Anheuser-Busch fortune has aired disapproval toward his old firm's decision to do business with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney - and said the sentiment is shared by his late ancestors who helped build the beer company from nothing.
- Former owner Billy Busch, 62, lamented the series of failed PR stunts his successors undertook with the trans influencer, 26
- He said his late father, August 'Gussie' Busch Jr, and A-B creator Adolphus Busch 'would [both] have rolled over in their graves' if they were alive today'
- The St. Louis-based Busch clan sold their stake in the firm in 2008 after more 150 years at the helm in 2008, selling it to current owner InBev for $52billion
Sitting down for an interview Friday, former owner Billy Busch, 62, lamented the series of failed PR stunts his successors undertook with the influencer, and how it's already lost his father's and grandfather's firm some $27billion.
Speaking to TMZ, Busch said his late father, August 'Gussie' Busch Jr, and his dad, A-B creator Adolphus Busch, 'would have rolled over in their graves' if they were alive to see the financial and social repercussions wrought by the failed partnership.
The St. Louis-based Busch clan - once the head of one of the biggest beverage empires in the world at the time - sold their stake in the firm in 2008 after more 150 years in 2008, selling to current owner InBev for some $52billion.
In the years that ensued, Anheuser-Busch experienced a period of success that saw its market evaluation swell to near $140billion - success that was promptly undone in April when A-B sent Mulvaney, 26, a personalized can of their then-bestselling Bud Light to launch the partnership.
Social media posts touting the professional relationship between Mulvaney and Bud Light followed, as well as the months-long storm of backlash that is still being felt. Speaking to TMZ, Busch broke his silence on the still ongoing media nightmare.
'I think my family - my ancestors would have rolled over in their graves,' Busch said when asked by longtime TMZ boss Harvey Levin about what he thought of the fallout - which has also cost the now Belgian-based brewer more than $390million in sales.
'They believed that transgender, um, gays, that sort of thing was all a very personal issue,' he continued, speaking for pioneering figures like his dad August, who served as chairman between 1946 and 1975, and Adolphus, the Missouri magnate who cooked up the first batch of Budweiser way back in 1876.'
The pair have both since passed - with Billy's dad dying of natural causes and his grandfather killing himself in 1934 after prohibition brought his creation to the brink of bankruptcy.
Son August Sr. managed to save the company by selling soda and ice cream, before building up the Anheuser-Busch Companies into the largest brewery in the world by 1957.
The family would pass the company through the generations, with Billy and his several siblings and cousins eventually becoming partial owners.
During the span, however, the family sold an estimated 25 percent stake from their ownership over the course of 1989 to 2008, culminating in a historic sale - after their stake depleted to less than 5 percent of shares at the time.
The left the family - who had been adamantly against losing control of the company Adolphus founded more than a century ago - unable to block the transaction, then valued at $48billion.
Still, the family - including Billy and his then CEO half nephew August IV - continued to fight back, rejecting InBev’s initial proposal and later striking a deal for $70 per share - getting them an extra $4billion in the process.
The sale served as a huge blow for the family, which today has an estimated 30 heirs, Billy and final Busch boss August IV, 59, included.
After the brewing giant said it plans to lay off hundreds of US employees, Busch suggested the recent woes A-B have experienced are even worse, and that his ancestor's efforts are becoming increasingly for naught.
'They loved this country because it is a free country and people are allowed to do what they want,' he told Levin, 'but it was never meant to be on a beer can and pushed in people's faces.'
The suds scion proceeded to map out how exactly he thought execs like since nixed marketing boss Alissa Gordon Heinerscheid missed the mark with the ill-thought-out campaign by failing to notice the brand's blue-collar fanbase.
'You know, I think people who drink beer, I think they're your common folk. I think they are the blue-collar worker who goes and works hard every single day,' Busch - who today stars in a reality show with other members of the Busch clan - said.
'The last thing they want pushed down their throat or to be drinking is a beer can with that kind of message on it. I just don't think that's what they're looking for.
'They want their beer to be truly American, truly patriotic, as it always has been. Truly, America's beer, which Bud Light was and probably isn’t any longer.'
Advertising his new book Family Reins: The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of An American Dynasty, Busch proceeded to pine how the company used to be 'one of the greatest marketers ever in any business', but has since been reduced to using 'controversial' marketing tactics just to stay relevant.
Levin, an outspoken liberal, proceeded to point out how the company has already sponsored pride events in the past, and suggested the company's diminishing customer-base is 'prejudiced' against transgender people.
To that, Busch simply said: 'I just don't think the audience that drinks beer is into transgenders.
'People who drink beer care about wholesome things,' he added. 'Certain things should be kept private.'
As this discourse transpired, Bud Light's bottom line continues to flail as a result of the brand's failed fling with Mulvaney - to the point where it has been dethroned as the top beer in the US by Modelo Especial after losing more than 26 percent in sales.
Modelo surpassed Bud Light's $297 million - which was a 22.8 percent fall in sales compared to the same time last year. They reported an 11 percent increase in sales for the second quarter of this year.
It was the first time since 2001 that Bud Light has not been in the top spot, dethroning its predecessor, Budweiser, for the 'King of Beer' title in 2001.
That said, Budweiser sales were down 10.3 percent through July 22 - a continuation of the more than the 10% decline seen the previous week.
Sales of Michelob Ultra -another Adolphus Busch creation - dipped 0.9 percent, compared with a 1.3 percent decline the previous week, while Busch Light dropped 1.1 percent, adding to 2.8 percent recorded the previous week.
Neither Billy nor any of his 30 surviving relatives have any stake left in Budweiser, Michelob, or any of the company’s other brands, but are still apparently disappointed with the current leaders at the helm.
He, however, has managed to branch out somewhat on his own, using the family fortune to found his own beer company Kräftig.
His book details the marriages, divorces, deaths and boardroom sagas that have rocked the firm, and is currently out in stores across the country.
