Anheuser-Busch is selling 8 of its beloved brands as Bud Light drama plagues its business

It's been months since the onset of the Bud Light controversy, but the decision to dive headfirst into the thicket of American culture wars is only just catching up with Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (BUD) -)

The data suggest Bud Light is hurting.

DON'T MISS: Anheuser-Busch InBev has a troubling long-term problem to face

As of the week ending July 29, Bud Light sales dropped for the 17th straight week in a row, down 29% year-over-year following the company's company's decision to partner with transgender social media personality Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson. 

Bud Light still struggling. pic.twitter.com/XgfOU6hYsa

— Brian Sozzi (@BrianSozzi) August 8, 2023

Its financials might not be cheery, but its struggles extend beyond the accounting books. Bud Light lost out as the most popular beer in America to Modelo, and images on social media now regularly pop up showing Bud Light being sold for less than water. 

Then in late July Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch made the difficult decision to cut hundreds of employees. The job cuts affected approximately 2% of its workforce, or 350 positions. The company claimed mostly corporate employees were affected, calling the move a "very difficult but necessary decision." 

"Regardless of favorability, our consumers across all the sentiment groups have three points of feedback in common. One, they want to enjoy their beer without a debate. Two, they want Bud Light to focus on beer. Three, they want Bud Light to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love," CEO Michel Doukeris said in a pullback from the culture wars debate during the Q2 earnings call.

Having sufficiently alienated its right-wing base, Bud Light all but abandoned Mulvaney, causing furor on its socially-progressive subset of beer drinkers. 

"For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans person at all," Mulvaney later said of her involvement with the brand, claiming she had endured "more transphobia and bullying than I could have ever imagined."

Anheuser-Bush drops brands amid backlash

Now, Anheuser-Bush is selling several of its brands to a Canadian company as it weathers the unfortunate storm. 

The brands will go to Tilray (TLRY) -), a Canadian consumer goods company publicly listed on the NASDAQ, which owns several cannabis and craft brew companies under its brand.

According to early reports, Anheuser-Busch will sell the following brands to Tilray: 

• Shock Top
• Breckenridge Brewery
• Blue Point Brewing Company
• 10 Barrel Brewing Company
• Redhook Brewery
• Widmer Brothers Brewing
• Square Mile Cider Company
• HiBall Energy

Anheuser-Busch president Andy Thomas claims that Tilray approached the mega-brewer earlier in 2023, but he did not disclose when the deal had been solidified or whether the Bud Light backlash played into the parent company's decision to sell eight of its brands to an international conglomerate. 

The sale, which is expected to go through later in 2023, will propel Tilray to the fifth spot as largest craft brewer in the U.S. -- up from ninth place prior to the deal. 

Niche and craft beers are good business in the U.S. as larger brands wade into political discourse and a younger demographic reaches for novel flavors and labels. The aforementioned Modelo (owned in the U.S. by Constellation Brands (STZ) -) and by Anheuser-Busch outside the U.S.) is the top-selling beer in America. 

A YouGov survey ranked the following beers as most popular in America as of Q2 2023: 

1. Guinness
2. Corona
3. Heineken
4. Samuel Adams
5. Blue Moon

White Claw (a spiked seltzer, technically), Corona Light, Corona Extra, Miller, Miller High Life, and Pabst Blue Ribbon all out-placed Bud Light (which came in at #15).  

The popularity of craft beers is more difficult to probe, given their niche and artisanal nature which typically lacks national appeal or distribution. StudyFinds says the top expert-recommended craft beers are: 

1. Allagash White
2. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
3. Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout
4. Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA
5. Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale