brianstl Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 I brought this up in the Rams post yesterday and the Post has a story about it online now. AB's days maybe numbered. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/...1E?OpenDocument Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Not necessarily. If it happened, I think it would be more akin to the Nestle/Purina situation than the May Co./Macy's situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted May 23, 2008 Author Share Posted May 23, 2008 Not necessarily. If it happened, I think it would be more akin to the Nestle/Purina situation than the May Co./Macy's situation.It still wouldn't be the same. Purina is just a shell of what it was years ago thanks to Stiritz. St Louis is quickly becoming an outpost town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 It still wouldn't be the same. Purina is just a shell of what it was years ago thanks to Stiritz. St Louis is quickly becoming an outpost town. That's what happens when you spend decades resting on your laurels and your Fortune 500 headquarters instead of emphasizing small business growth and encouraging new industries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boozecrew1 Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 It makes you wonder if Auggie Busch would turn his back on the loyal city of Saint Louis, and forever turn millions of people against the Busch clan. Could the Cardinals be playing in INBEV Stadium eventually? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 It makes you wonder if Auggie Busch would turn his back on the loyal city of Saint Louis, and forever turn millions of people against the Busch clan. Could the Cardinals be playing in INBEV Stadium eventually? There is no such person as "Auggie Busch." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Could the Cardinals be playing in INBEV Stadium eventually? Nah, but you might be able to buy a Beck's or a Stella at the ballpark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Nah, but you might be able to buy a Beck's or a Stella at the ballpark.The Busch's can't stop it. Insiders at BUD have less than 25% of the outstanding shares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 The Busch's can't stop it. Insiders at BUD have less than 25% of the outstanding shares. why would we believe the busch's want to stop it? the stock price has been dull for awhile now. the busch's wealth on paper went up quite a bit today. for all we know the busch's couldnt care less if the headquarters were in st louis or belgium. i hope that is not the case, but it isnt like aldolphus is still in charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 why would we believe the busch's want to stop it? the stock price has been dull for awhile now. the busch's wealth on paper went up quite a bit today. for all we know the busch's couldnt care less if the headquarters were in st louis or belgium. i hope that is not the case, but it isnt like aldolphus is still in charge. The 4th might want to stop it because he'll lose his job of being CEO of a major company ,but the rest of the family might agree with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB73 Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 It still wouldn't be the same. Purina is just a shell of what it was years ago thanks to Stiritz. St Louis is quickly becoming an outpost town. Absolutely, big SL companies moving and / or being bought out one by one by outsiders is killing SL. Purina is one of many examples. AB going to the Belgians would be the last straw. We are in a ideal central location and have blown it. Makes Buckner look not-so-bad. Your home would be worth 50% more if it was not for all these failures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 The 4th might want to stop it because he'll lose his job of being CEO of a major company ,but the rest of the family might agree with you. i agree. but the combined stock holdings of all other living busch heirs would dwarf his shares. and even if he got fired, i suspect he wouldnt have to sell his ford focus to survive. it should be a fun battle to watch unfold for those of us on the outside. however i agree it could be horrible for st louis if it truly happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 It still wouldn't be the same. Purina is just a shell of what it was years ago thanks to Stiritz. St Louis is quickly becoming an outpost town. I can assure you that you are way, way, way off base. The Purina business in St. Louis is now significantly bigger than it was prior to the acquisition. Meanwhile, three of the former Ralson companies (Energizer, Ralcorp, and PTI) remain in St. Louis and probably collectively have over twice the business they had before they were spun off. It is easy for the media to write catchy headlines about the how terrible it is when St. Louis companies are acquired, but in the case of Ralston (and Monsanto) the impact for St. Louis has been exactly the opposite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 I can assure you that you are way, way, way off base. The Purina business in St. Louis is now significantly bigger than it was prior to the acquisition. Meanwhile, three of the former Ralson companies (Energizer, Ralcorp, and PTI) remain in St. Louis and probably collectively have over twice the business they had before they were spun off. It is easy for the media to write catchy headlines about the how terrible it is when St. Louis companies are acquired, but in the case of Ralston (and Monsanto) the impact for St. Louis has been exactly the opposite. that is awesome. i know i didnt know that and i am sure most of st louis doesnt either. media. that said, wouldnt you think the city/county of st louis would trumpet this information as much as possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 That's what happens when you spend decades resting on your laurels and your Fortune 500 headquarters instead of emphasizing small business growth and encouraging new industries. Well, in the case of the legacy Ralston companies currently based in St. Louis, you probably have over twice as many local employees and over twice as much revenue as there was in the glory days Brian references. The biggest difference is that the largest of these companies is privately held, so the media doesn't have access to the figures they like to splash in the paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 that is awesome. i know i didnt know that and i am sure most of st louis doesnt either. media. that said, wouldnt you think the city/county of st louis would trumpet this information as much as possible? The financial information for Solae (formerly Ralston's PTI division) and Nestle Purina is privately held, so the media doesn't have access to any details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Absolutely, big SL companies moving and / or being bought out one by one by outsiders is killing SL. Purina is one of many examples. Wrong, in the case of Purina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 The financial information for Solae (formerly Ralston's PTI division) and Nestle Purina is privately held, so the media doesn't have access to any details. why wouldnt the company be willing to share general information like you shared with us? that only makes the company out to look good and helps sooth any area general unrest about the real story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Good stuff, David. I gotta think that if this deal goes through, A-B will still serve as the North American base of operations, with many functions retained. And with the increased distribution of InBev's brands in addition to the A-B brands, that base of operations would be critical to the success of the merger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aj_arete Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 why wouldnt the company be willing to share general information like you shared with us? that only makes the company out to look good and helps sooth any area general unrest about the real story. Private companies have no incentive to release financial information. Public companies only release financial information because they are required to in order to be listed on respected stock exchanges. As a private company, why would I want to release financials, so that my competition can get access to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 why wouldnt the company be willing to share general information like you shared with us? that only makes the company out to look good and helps sooth any area general unrest about the real story. I believe Purina has generally been open about the large number of local employees and the success of the St. Louis-based business, but for strategic reasons the public company does not want to publicize and revenue, profit, and loss details for the privately held operations. The bigger issue is that the business reporters still look to public information regarding publicly held companies so that they can feed the public the ever-sought lists and rankings. Increasingly, St. Louis is becoming a community of multi-billion dollar companies that are privately held by multi-national publicly-held companies. The local media doesn't understand it, so they always assume it is bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianstl Posted May 23, 2008 Author Share Posted May 23, 2008 I believe Purina has generally been open about the large number of local employees and the success of the St. Louis-based business, but for strategic reasons the public company does not want to publicize and revenue, profit, and loss details for the privately held operations. The bigger issue is that the business reporters still look to public information regarding publicly held companies so that they can feed the public the ever-sought lists and rankings. Increasingly, St. Louis is becoming a community of multi-billion dollar companies that are privately held by multi-national publicly-held companies. The local media doesn't understand it, so they always assume it is bad. Do you think the area is better off than it was before 2000 when we had 20 Fortune 500 companies headquatered here now when we have 8? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Do you think the area is better off than it was before 2000 when we had 20 Fortune 500 companies headquatered here now when we have 8? You will have to show my the source for your information--I don't recall this region ever having anywhere close to 20 Fortune 500 companies. Actually, I believe that in 1995 we ranked 7th in the nation for number of Fortune 500 companies. Today (depending upon how a "city" is defined), we rank between 5th and 8th in the nation for Fortune 500 companies. The names are different, but companies such as SBC, Boeing, and Nestle Purina are still among the largest employers in the region and are no longer reflected on St. Louis's list. My point is that the number of Fortune 500 companies or the public status of a company (Cargill and Mars are both private, but are among the largest companies in the nation) is not a good indicator of the economic health of a region. The only people who should care whether a large, successful company is public or private are the public accountants and securities lawyers. What is most important is the number of stable and decent-paying jobs. In that regard, I do not believe St. Louis is any worse off than it was a decade ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Whatever it takes to get them to brew decent beer. Bitte ein bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheA_Bomb Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Skip I can tell you are an Air Force guy you were probably in Hahn or Bitburg. Bitburg is alright. For my $ in Germany I'll get some fresh Warsteiner (doesn't taste the same in the US) or some Paulaner vom FaB. If I want a Kristall WeiBbeir I get Erdinger or Shoferhofer. I once had a 30 minute discussion with a German (in Germany) about how I couldn't compare Warsteiner to a Kristall WeiBbier because they were two completely different things. The guy wouldn't quit till I saw it his way. They take bier seriously, Rheinheitsgebot and all that. Anyway, the micro brew has cut into alot of the big companies sales although many of the "micro brews" we buy are actually made by many of the big companies. It would be sad to see the last large American owned brewery to no longer be fully American. However, I think the difference is negligible to St. Louis as the HQ would probably stay there. They may make some commotion so that the state and or city makes some compensation for them. We need to scrape our money together and buy that Belgium waffle company and see how they like it out in Waterloo (which is a nice place to visit). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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