Description
Book SynopsisHow the King of Beers collapsed without a fight and what it means for America''s place in the post-Recession world How did InBev, a Belgian company controlled by Brazilians, take over one of America''s most beloved brands with scarcely a whimper of opposition? Chalk it up to perfect timingand some unexpected help from powerful members of the Busch dynasty, the very family that had run the company for more than a century. In Dethroning the King, Julie MacIntosh, the award-winning financial journalist who led coverage of the takeover for the Financial Times, details how the drama that unfolded at Anheuser-Busch in 2008 went largely unreported as the world tumbled into a global economic crisis second only to the Great Depression. Today, as the dust settles, questions are being asked about how the King of Beers was so easily captured by a foreign corporation, and whether the company''s fall mirrors America''s dwindling financial and political dominance as a nation.
Table of Contents
Cast of Characters xiii
Author’s Note xvii
Prologue 1
Chapter 1: The Game is Afoot 5
Chapter 2: Crazy and Lazy at Loggerheads 23
Chapter 3: The Colossus 37
Chapter 4: Selling the American Dream 57
Chapter 5: The Fourth Abides 77
Chapter 6: The Hunter’s Frozen Trigger Finger 111
Chapter 7: A Babe in the Woods 127
Chapter 8: The Old Gobi Desert Trick 143
Chapter 9: Mr. Brito Goes to Washington 161
Chapter 10: Angry Bedfellows 181
Chapter 11: The Board: August, August, and Augusta 203
Chapter 12: The Montagues and the Busches 241
Chapter 13: A Seller from “Hello” 257
Chapter 14: Put Up or Shut Up 275
Chapter 15: A Long Way from St. Louis 295
Chapter 16: A Toast on Both Sides 311
Chapter 17: Cash Out or Hunker Down 323
Epilogue 341
Notes 355
Acknowledgments 369
About the Author 371
Index 373
