Anheuser-Busch sales dropped by $1.5B amid Bud Light backlash

Sales at Anheuser-Busch InBev decreased by about $1.5 billion in North America last year amid a tumultuous year for its premier product, Bud Light, the company said Thursday during an earnings call.

North American sales decreased to $15.1 billion from $16.6 billion one year earlier as sales to wholesalers and retailers like liquor stores decreased by about 12% apiece.

“A billion dollars is a billion dollars, and that hurts even billionaires,” said Bump Williams, of Bump Williams Consulting, a Connecticut-based firm that specializes in the alcoholic beverage industry.

Last year’s slump came as the company faced swift backlash last spring when it sent a personalized Bud Light can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney as part of a marketing campaign, prompting some consumers, including celebrities like Kid Rock, to call for a boycott of Bud Light.

Sales plummeted as a result, and over the summer Modelo Especial dethroned Bud Light for the first time in more than two decades as the best-selling beer in America.

Williams said the sales decrease matters most to wholesalers — workers who are not part of the corporate team, and whose losses make up the figure.

“When I look at a $1 billion loss, I don’t look at the sum. I look at the pieces,” Williams said. “It’s the distributor network who had 50-60% of their profits evaporate last year. … That’s who paid the price for all of this last year. All those people who lost millions of dollars.”

A-B InBev CEO Michel Doukeris acknowledged during Thursday’s call with investors that Bud Light had dragged down A-B sales in North America, as the company’s “full growth potential was constrained by the performance of our U.S. business.”

Doukeris said last year was challenging, but he called the beer industry resilient, noting that the brewer provided financial assistance to wholesale partners and increased investment in brands in response.

“Our market share continued to improve gradually from May to the most recent weeks in February,” Doukeris told investors.

Revenue was up for A-B last year in all other markets — the Middle Americas, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific — ushering in an all-time high for the company with $59.4 billion in sales.

Though U.S. sales were down about 9.5%, overall revenue for the Belgium-based brewer was up almost 8% last year.

The earnings call comes the day after the brewer narrowly avoided a strike at its 12 U.S. plants after reaching a tentative labor agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Wednesday.

Since last spring’s criticism, A-B has doubled down on investments in sports, music and other popular platforms. During this year’s Super Bowl game, the company ran three different television ads featuring celebrities such as Post Malone and Lionel Messi.

During Thursday’s call, Doukeris highlighted several of those recent brand deals.

He pointed to Bud Light’s UFC deal, the continued Folds of Honor partnership, and the company’s brand presence at a major soccer championship and the Olympics, where A-B recently signed on to a partnership through 2028.