Think you know the story of how the InBev takeover of Anheuser-Busch happened? Chances are, you don’t know the half of it. In a super detailed account of the entire event with lots of insider commentary, learn what really went down on both sides in the largest all-cash acquisition in history and the last giant merger inked before the global financial markets imploded.
The level of detail in this book is amazing. Through countless interviews with executives, board members and others at both Anheuser-Busch and InBev, you feel like you’re there working to ward off the largest brewery acquisition in history. You get a very detailed view of how things were run inside. Interesting items like:
- The Air Bud fleet of Dassault Falcon corporate jets meant that even the wives of strategy committee members hadn’t flown commercial for years and was managed by a team of 20 pilots plus mechanics and others to keep their private hanger at Spirit Of St. Louis Airport running.
- August III enjoyed making hop teas at brewery meetings.
- August III preferred to fly his helicopter to work each morning from his farm in St. Peters, 40 miles east of St. Louis. He had a phobia of elevators and flying to the office meant he only had to come down one flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator up from the ground level.
While at times the amount of information given about each blow in the bid of AB can be a bit much, it doesn’t leave anything out. The business that went on behind the scenes, out of the media spotlight on the merger is really captured for the reader and makes for a much more interesting read than that which we saw play out on the news. Grab your own copy of Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon, here on Amazon.