Altria Group, the owners of Marlboro cigarettes manufacturer Philip Morris USA, are dumping 35 million shares in AB InBev, the owners of Bud Light.
“As good stewards of shareholder capital, we consistently review options to unlock the value of our ABI investment, and we believe this is an opportunistic transaction that realizes a portion of the substantial return on our long-term investment,” said Altria CEO Billy Gifford.
AB InBev’s stock was damaged in 2023, both literally and figuratively, by Bud Light’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender activist invited to meet Joe Biden after his ‘Days of Being a Girl’ series on TikTok gained a substantial following.
The debacle led to increased scrutiny of AB InBev’s woke business practices, with footage of employees talking about the need to reduce the number of white and male employees during its #CheerstoDiversityAndInclusion campaign being recirculated.
Despite being dropped by the brand, Mulvaney appeared to emerge relatively unscathed from the debacle and was named to the ‘30 Under 30’ list by Forbes in November.
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