ThreeOneFour wrote:Someone else can feel free to report back here about the inevitable trainwreck on the STLtoday.com forums. I'm sure the hoosiers are already planning to drink a real American beer like Miller Lite while they b!tch and moan about the impending demise of St. Louis as we know it. They should really eliminate the comment section from their articles, because the predictably mindless twaddle that passes for discussion there is a bit embarrassing.
Any shareholder that agreed to the takeover but yet is shocked by this news is a real… a real… ah… nevermind. What do I care. I don’t drink and I don’t live in the city of St. Louis. I am in St. Charles County.
JMedwick wrote:While this first round of layoffs frustrates me, I am not ready quite yet to dump on ABI yet. If they go slash and burn on St. Louis, ala Macys, however...
Macy's did not slash and burn their employees. They told everyone that they would keep the Macy's Midwest division headquarters here in STL for 2 years. They kept that promise. Once the two years was up, they decided that there was a better way to run a business. Now they have 4 divisions, and I would guess that in the not to far future, they will have only 2.
Back to AB-Inbev, we all knew this would happen. It is just too bad for it to happen this time of year, but people had months to look for a new job, and some that were resourceful had found them already. Others will not be so lucky.
As for the logos, the new one is the corporate logo, while the old one will remain in place for the AB division (North America). I think that is what is supposed to happen.
I know it's fair to call people stupid who switch to Miller and Coors, but what about Sam Adams? Afterall, Sam Adams (or Boston Brewing Co. or whatever the company name is) is now the largest American brewer. Sincere question.
^ It depends upon perspective. If you care about St. Louis, you could inquire into how many St. Louisans Sam Adams employs... Now compare that number to ABI.
innovation, I'm all in favor of your free market boilerplate, I couldn't have said it better. I place a great deal of blame with AB; way to be number one for years only to watch yourself being gobbled up. BUT..I do think that a lot of AB policies made the company successful. we'll see what Budweisers market share is for the country and the world within five or ten years. I will wager that AB would have been better off on its own. sure, they could have brought in outside leadership, but the AB brands will tarnish, that's just my personal opinion. PS. it was ALL about marketing, that's what made AB so famous from the beginning outside of a few innovative practices, ie ice railroad cars, etc..
innov8ion wrote:^ This is unwelcome news but was nonethless expected. Instead of growing shareholder value like InBev, A-B stagnated. We live in a global economy and unfortunately A-B was not successful enough to dictate its own destiny and that of its employees... This article is more thorough than the Post-Dispatch's: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_ ... usch_inbev
Let me say another thing. On our internal social network, folks across the company are coming up with ways to save the company money. For example, I thought of an idea that could save $6 million/annum. This kind of thinking, especially if it spreads, can potentially save jobs...
I bet if your company disabled access to urbanstl.com they'd be able to save thousands by having you actually work instead posting novel after novel on here. You should suggest that.
JMedwick wrote:While this first round of layoffs frustrates me, I am not ready quite yet to dump on ABI yet. If they go slash and burn on St. Louis, ala Macy's, however...
Macy's did not slash and burn their employees. They told everyone that they would keep the Macy's Midwest division headquarters here in STL for 2 years. They kept that promise. Once the two years was up, they decided that there was a better way to run a business. Now they have 4 divisions, and I would guess that in the not to far future, they will have only 2.
Pre-merger more than 1,500 people worked downtown for Macy's. Now how many work there? Less than 200? I would call that a slash and burn.
ChrisInDownTown wrote:
I bet if your company disabled access to urbanstl.com they'd be able to save thousands by having you actually work instead posting novel after novel on here. You should suggest that.
Just in case people here are regulars and read these forums at work, hopefully everyone is using an RSS reader like reader.google.com
Point it to urbanstl.com and BAM it takes about a minutes to read 20-30 posts since you can scroll and ignore the ones you dont want to read. Then it takes 2 minutes to post? Then go back to work.
By using that method, it takes almost no time at all. Plus I would actually want my employees to be knowledgeable of what is going on in the LOCAL business environment.
Typical STLtoday.com Anti-St. Louis Armchair Analyst wrote:Any shareholder that agreed to the takeover but yet is shocked by this news is a real… a real… ah… nevermind. What do I care. I don’t drink and I don’t live in the city of St. Louis. I am in St. Charles County.
Thanks, DeB. I'm sure the other comments are just as lovely. I just can't look at them anymore!
I think notices are coming out on Friday. I don't know if it is just one group or the whole shebang. Some of my friends are concerned and I'll be thinking good thoughts. You can do the same.
innov8ion wrote:I think notices are coming out on Friday. I don't know if it is just one group or the whole shebang. Some of my friends are concerned and I'll be thinking good thoughts. You can do the same.
Merry F*cking Christmas and Happy Cr*ppy Holidays! You're laid off!
innov8ion wrote:I think notices are coming out on Friday. I don't know if it is just one group or the whole shebang. Some of my friends are concerned and I'll be thinking good thoughts. You can do the same.
Merry F*cking Christmas and Happy Cr*ppy Holidays! You're laid off!
Why do people get so hung up on this whole idiotic notion that you shouldn't lay anyone off at Xmas? Who cares? It's as good as any other day for layoffs.
The Central Scrutinizer wrote:Why do people get so hung up on this whole idiotic notion that you shouldn't lay anyone off at Xmas? Who cares? It's as good as any other day for layoffs.
I think it's got something to do with religion, or the Grinch, or maybe both. I don't know. While I think the timing of the cuts at AB InBev is unfortunate, it was bound to happen with an independent AB anyway. Sometime people get laid off on their birthdays or right after a loved one dies. That's just business, and life for that matter.
innov8ion wrote:I think notices are coming out on Friday. I don't know if it is just one group or the whole shebang. Some of my friends are concerned and I'll be thinking good thoughts. You can do the same.
Merry F*cking Christmas and Happy Cr*ppy Holidays! You're laid off!
Why do people get so hung up on this whole idiotic notion that you shouldn't lay anyone off at Xmas? Who cares? It's as good as any other day for layoffs.
You don't need to resort to calling me an idiot.
All I'm saying is that they should try and wait until January. Unless there's a greatly increased cost of keeping those people another 3 or 4 weeks, then try to let the employees try to have a happy holiday season.
I understand A-B's side if they work by calendar year and they'll be on the hook for X millions of dollars because the meter flips over on January 1st. Let's say they now have to cover all of the laid of employees 2009 holidays and pay them back for those unused weeks.
The Central Scrutinizer wrote:
[Why do people get so hung up on this whole idiotic notion that you shouldn't lay anyone off at Xmas? Who cares? It's as good as any other day for layoffs.
Maybe the same place they get the idea that Christmas is a good time to give the CEOs massive bonuses.
Merry F*cking Christmas and Happy Cr*ppy Holidays! You're laid off!
Why do people get so hung up on this whole idiotic notion that you shouldn't lay anyone off at Xmas? Who cares? It's as good as any other day for layoffs.
You don't need to resort to calling me an idiot.
All I'm saying is that they should try and wait until January. Unless there's a greatly increased cost of keeping those people another 3 or 4 weeks, then try to let the employees try to have a happy holiday season.
I understand A-B's side if they work by calendar year and they'll be on the hook for X millions of dollars because the meter flips over on January 1st. Let's say they now have to cover all of the laid of employees 2009 holidays and pay them back for those unused weeks.
My problem isn't so much with the layoffs coming at Christmas-time, so much as them coming RIGHT NOW, when the economy is spiraling into a nasty recession and lots of companies, both here and nationwide, are laying off people by the thousands in order to survive.
By contrast, AB/Inbev is basically fine.
These layoffs aren't about survival so much as about "synergy." They could have held off a few months until the economy stabilizes a bit. But they didn't. They tossed another 1,400 well-paid people out on the street in the worst job market in a quarter century and did a particularly big hunk of damage to the already-battered local economy of their new North American HQ.
These layoffs were inevitable. But if the new regime was as interested as they claim in being a good corporate citizen, they could have waited. They chose not to.
They need to lay everyone off now in order to take a restructuing charge before year end. This way all the expenses will show up on the 2008 financials. In the accounting world it is called a "Big Bath"
The Central Scrutinizer wrote:
[Why do people get so hung up on this whole idiotic notion that you shouldn't lay anyone off at Xmas? Who cares? It's as good as any other day for layoffs.
Maybe the same place they get the idea that Christmas is a good time to give the CEOs massive bonuses.
I suspect that is more tied to the year end than anything else.
Has anyone had the chance to read some of the 'LagerHeads' messages posted at the bottom of all of the AB articles. The blog is basically a forum for current and layed off employees to discuss their future & past, vent and express their emotions. IT IS VERY SAD. I have never worked there, but I was proud to have AB in St. Louis. I always wanted to work there and for some reason find it very easy to feel the pain AB employees are going through. The prevailing emotion that I feel in reading those posts is pure anger towards the whole takeover situation and INBEV in general. I am realistic and understand biz is biz, but this situation is so sad. A St. Louis icon is being dismantled and turned into a shell of its former self. As a former shareholder, I was in the 4% that voted no. I knew it would pass because it was all about money and greed. I think this company is going to lose in the long run. Same goes for St. Louis. I still believe that AB could have cut back from within. St. Louis will likely lose so many great people, who will have to go elsewhere to find work. Guess when the next big St. Louis company falls, we will not be able to say 'at least we have AB' because we do not. SAD!!!!! :hell:
Supposedly the I.T. cuts were bloodier than expected. I'm still trying to contact people I knew that worked there, but from my undertstanding almost all of the contractors were let go and a fair amount of the direct employees.
In addition some projects have been accelerated with the feeling that once those are finished, those people will also be let go.
dweebe wrote:Supposedly the I.T. cuts were bloodier than expected. I'm still trying to contact people I knew that worked there, but from my undertstanding almost all of the contractors were let go and a fair amount of the direct employees.
Not even close. Still plenty of each running around the building.
dweebe wrote:Supposedly the I.T. cuts were bloodier than expected. I'm still trying to contact people I knew that worked there, but from my undertstanding almost all of the contractors were let go and a fair amount of the direct employees.
Not even close. Still plenty of each running around the building.
I just got 4 undeliverable bouncebacks on all of the A-B I.T. email addresses I had. That's not good a good sign.
DOGTOWNB&R wrote:Has anyone had the chance to read some of the 'LagerHeads' messages posted at the bottom of all of the AB articles. The blog is basically a forum for current and layed off employees to discuss their future & past, vent and express their emotions. IT IS VERY SAD.
dweebe wrote:Supposedly the I.T. cuts were bloodier than expected. I'm still trying to contact people I knew that worked there, but from my undertstanding almost all of the contractors were let go and a fair amount of the direct employees.
Not even close. Still plenty of each running around the building.
I just got 4 undeliverable bouncebacks on all of the A-B I.T. email addresses I had. That's not good a good sign.
AB InBev Lenders Said to Offer Loans at 9% Discount (Update2)
By Caroline Hyde
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Lenders to Anheuser-Busch InBev NV are offering to sell part of the brewer’s $45 billion of senior loans for as little as 91 cents on the dollar, according to two people familiar with the transaction.
InBev NV, based in Leuven, Belgium, raised the second- biggest loan ever to help finance the $52 billion acquisition of Budweiser-maker Anheuser-Busch Cos. last month. The lenders started offering the debt to other investors today, said the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private.
Loan prices have fallen as banks and financial companies have been forced to sell debt amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Investment-grade loans traded at an average 97 percent of face value, after dropping 2 percentage points this year, according to Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.
“The loans trade at a discount as AB InBev is now highly leveraged for an investment-grade company,” said Louis Gargour, chief investment officer at London-based hedge fund LNG Capital LLP.
InBev’s total borrowing is as much as 6 times earnings, according to Fitch Ratings. That compares with rival SABMiller Plc’s debt ratio of about 2.5 times, and Carlsberg A/S levels of 3 to 4 times, Fitch said in a Nov. 19 report...
