Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, announced it would be laying off some 350 employees, many of them corporate positions, as it seeks to recover from the fallout over a campaign involving a trans influencer.
In a statement reported by multiple outlets, the company said Wednesday that the layoffs would affect less than 2% of its approximately 18,000 employees nationwide.
An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Today we took the very difficult but necessary decision to eliminate a number of positions across our corporate organization,” said Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth. “While we never take these decisions lightly, we want to ensure that our organization continues to be set for future long-term success.”
The layoffs will not include frontline staff such as “brewery and warehouse staff, drivers, and field sales, among others,” the company said. The move was designed to “simplify and reduce layers within its organization,” it said.
Bud Light recently lost its title as the No. 1 beer in America to Modelo Especial after a campaign involving Dylan Mulvaney during the NCAA Tournament — and subsequent remarks by Bud Light’s brand ambassador — sparked a nationwide backlash.
Conservative media outlets and social media accounts were filled this spring with memes of users disposing of Bud Light in various ways. Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his administration was considering legal action against Anheuser-Busch and its parent company, AB InBev, in response to the financial impact of the campaign.
Since April, AB InBev shares have declined approximately 11%.
Bud Light sales in the last week of June were down nearly 28% year on year, according to Nielsen IQ data cited by Bump Williams consulting.
Whitworth, AB’s CEO, said last month that the company would continue to support the LGBTQ community. But Mulvaney said in June that AB never reached back out to her following the backlash.
“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,” she said in a TikTok video.
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