The news today that AB InBev has increased its offer per share to SABMiller is fairly significant; well, significant if you care about beer or you own stock in either company. Essentially, the largest brewing company on the planet is trying to buy the next largest brewing company on the planet. Like the Yankees buying the Red Sox.
What does it all mean?
I won't try to analyze this from a financial perspective, because that's not my expertise. In actuality, I have no expertise in anything, but in ranking those things of which I am not an expert, financial markets would be so far down, I couldn't even fake it like I do with photography, the Middle East, or hockey.
Somehow, though, I just can't imagine better beer coming from this acquisition, and in the end, that's all that concerns beer drinkers. Because I can create a baseball analogy for just about anything, this reminds me of the late 1980's Yankees. They decided that spending more on high priced free agents would lead them to another World Series title. Their net worth increased, but what the fans saw on the field showed very little improvement, just more famous faces to use in marketing campaigns, and no championship would arrive until the mid-90's, when they used actual home grown talent (Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, Posada, Bernie Williams).
As I have stated before, Beer Run doesn't believe in bashing mega-breweries. A cold Bud Light, High Life, or Coors will always have its place in the American beer landscape, and surveys are showing that most craft beer drinkers are not automatically turned off by a craft brewery being acquired by a Mega, as long as the quality doesn't suffer (the Twitter page for Beer Stud has several good links to this topic).
One thing is certain, though: if the Megas don't change their attitudes and approaches to craft breweries, the more open-minded beer consumers like myself will stop defending Megas. And they will lose even more market share amongst consumers.
An analogy: at the end of the 90's, a seismic shift occurred in the music industry with the creation of downloadable music. The major labels scoffed at it and refused to participate (even trying to thwart progress), deciding instead to stick with the old model. It wasn't until downloads became the norm that the big guns in the industry realized they had to adapt, that most consumers were not interested in the way they packaged their product (or even the product, for that matter). The Majors lost money, as independent labels and artists were finally given a new creative expression platform that leveled the playing field. The publishing, television, and film worlds adapted as well, most with tremendous success. And I'm not judging; I held onto cassette tapes as long as I could before I realized I was going to have to adapt if I wanted access to what I liked.
In the end, it's about giving people what they truly want. Statistics show that the vast majority of Americans still want their Mega-brew, just as music consumers still want their Coldplay and Jay-Z. But people also want music by that indie band they saw last week at that club downtown, the one that a Capitol or Warner Brothers wouldn't find mainstream enough to sell. Just as some people want an IPA or brown ale instead of a pilsner.
In 2015 America, we can have it all. So why mock freedom of choice, Megas? Embrace the brave new beer world!
DS
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