News of the sale of shares comes as owner of beer tries to reclaim all American reputation
After a backlash due to an ad campaign featuring a female transgender influencer, the owner of Marlboro cigarettes will sell $2.2bn of shares (£1.7bn).
Altria Group – one of the largest tobacco companies in the world – announced on Thursday that it would sell 35m AB InBev shares, which makes Stella, Corona, and Leffe.
The company currently owns 10 percent of the brewery, with a stake worth around $12.73 billion (£9.9bn).
Altria, also known as Philip Morris USA (the owner of Marlboro cigarettes), is the parent company.
Marlboro Man, the cowboy-like character in its advertising campaigns, was a big hit with consumers.
The news of the sale of shares comes after a turbulent year for AB InBev. During that time, it was criticized by conservatives in the US after a marketing stunt involving a transgender celebrity.
Bud Light has been accused of having a “woke agenda” after sending Dylan Mulvaney an engraved beer can in celebration of the anniversary of gender transition.
AB InBev’s shares dropped following the Bud Light boycott
Last month, AB InBev announced a 17.4pc decline in sales to US retail stores in the fourth quarter of 2023. It attributed this decline primarily to the decline of Bud Light.
Modelo, a beer owned by the rival company Constellation Brands has replaced it as America’s favorite beer.
Critics such as Ron DeSantis (former Republican presidential candidate) who accused AB InBev aligning itself with “radical ideologies” sparked the boycott.
Kid Rock, a rapper who was filmed with an assault weapon shooting a Bud Light beer pack, also joined the debate.
Human rights groups also criticized AB InBev for failing to support Ms Mulvaney when she was subjected to transphobic slurs after the ad.
In recent months, AB InBev tried to improve its reputation by launching patriotic TV advertisements centered on “the American Spirit”.
There are images of a horse galloping across various American backgrounds and people dressed in military clothing saluting the flag.
Ms Mulvaney said she pitched an ad to the brewer after the controversy, but had not received a response.
She said, “I thought it would be fun to do a Western commercial with a cowboy on one end and a transgender person at the other, then a beer in the middle.”
“Because we can laugh and show that these are very real things in our world, there is also a certain compassion to the fact that all of us like beer.”
AB InBev has launched a buyback of $1bn worth of shares to restore investor confidence.
AB InBev wants to purchase shares worth $200m from Altria.
Altria became a shareholder of AB InBev for the first time in 2016.