Anheuser-Busch heir Billy Busch told Newsmax Friday that he would "love" to buy the Budweiser brand back from InBev and restore it to its former glory after the ill-fated Dylan Mulvaney marketing affair knocked Bud Light out of its top spot in the U.S. beer market and cost the parent company $27 billion in market capitalization.
"It's really difficult to see it going downhill at this point, and I don't know if they can change the tide," Busch said during an appearance on Newsmax's "American Agenda." "So, maybe the best thing for them to do, since they're losing so much money at this point, is to sell it off, and I would love to be able to buy it back and bring it back to the family and make it America's brand again."
Busch said he's had "a little bit of a conversation" with Anheuser-Busch InBev about "how me and my family could help the brand," but he hasn't heard anything since making his offer to buy the brands back.
When asked how he would bring back a brand that has been subject to such intense, sustained consumer backlash, Busch didn't hesitate to share his resurrection strategy.
"I would get back to the basics," he said. "Get back to what really built it in the first place. Get back to the great advertising that Anheuser-Busch — when the family was running it — was known for. The Clydesdales were always representative of that — of America — and bringing people together and having fun.
"It's a social drink, and it's inclusive for everybody and I would use that kind of advertising," he continued. "I would get the pride back with the people that work for the company and for the brands. It's just terrible to see these people losing jobs now and people on the wholesale side losing jobs because of the low sales, so I would do all those things to bring it back."
The brewing company heir has also recently written the book "Family Reins: The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty."
"In the book, 'Family Reins,' I discussed how my family started the brewing company — my great grandfather — and they took it through years and years of challenges: Prohibition, the world wars and other challenges," he said. "They were able to accomplish great things and made an iconic brand out of the Budweiser brand and then, later on, the Bud Light brand.
"It also talks about the uniqueness of how I grew up, watching my father and my mother run the company during the time of its greatest growth," Busch continued. "It tells about some of the experiences growing up, with pet elephants and traveling on a private railroad car. I didn't realize back then, but I realize it now, how unique that was, so I think people will enjoy it."
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