A new report estimates Anheuser-Busch InBev’s market value has plunged a staggering $15.7 billion since April 1, the day the Dylan Mulvaney controversy exploded.
That estimate came from Investor’s Business Daily, which used a conversion to U.S. dollars using data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. On April 1, Mulvaney promoted Bud Light during the NCAA March Madness tournament.
“We believe there is a subset of American consumers who will not drink a Bud Light for the foreseeable future,” Jared Dinges, beverage analyst at JPMorgan Chase, said on Tuesday. “We believe a 12% to 13% volume decline on an annualized basis would be a reasonable assumption.”
Shares of Anheuser-Busch’s stock have plummeted 11.9% since April 1, while Molson Coors Beverage shares have soared 20%, rewarding Molson Coors with over $2.2 billion in additional market value. According to JPMorgan analysts, U.S. beer volumes for Anheuser-Busch could plunge 12% this year.
“Shares [of Anheuser-Busch] have underperformed EU Beer peers by 15% since the start of April,” Dinges continued. “We believe this is due to U.S. uncertainty, as investor focus has shifted squarely to the potential impact from the Bud Light controversy. … We do not expect the lost sales to be recovered in fiscal year 2024.”
Bud Light accounts for 7% of Anheuser-Busch’s volume while Budweiser accounts for 11%, Corona 8%, and Brahma 7%.
Anson Frericks, the former president of sales and distribution for Anheuser-Busch, recently intimated that trouble lay ahead for the company, telling The Daily Wire he foresaw “a long, hot, dry summer for Anheuser-Busch.”
“I think that you’re going to see sales continue to be down because customers, it’s too easy for them to switch to other brands, and they’re seeing the impact of their results,” he continued. “If they want those customers back, they have an easy decision that they can make, which is saying, ‘We want Bud Light customers back, therefore Bud Light is not going to get involved with political issues moving forward.’ If not, they’re probably going to be in a worse position next year and their sales will continue to decline.”
On April 1, Mulvaney, a man who identifies as a woman, posted a video to his 1.8 million followers on Instagram promoting his partnership with Bud Light. “This month I celebrated my day 365 of womanhood, and Bud Light sent me possibly the best gift ever, a can with my face on it,” Mulvaney said.