OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates recently invested nearly $100 million into Anheuser-Busch as the company faces nationwide boycotts of Bud Light.
The beer company is accused of going “woke” and promoting controversial transgender propaganda on Americans. Gates is known for championing many left-wing social and political causes, including climate change and COVID-19 vaccination.
Former Anheuser-Busch president of operations, Anson Frericks, says Gates is making a big mistake.
Former Anheuseur-Busch executive has said that the backlash and boycott is ‘getting worse and worse’ after the brand reported a significant drop in sales for the 5th week in a row.
Anson Frericks told @FoxBusiness
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“Bill Gates is definitely making a mistake,” Frericks said on Fox News.
“Earlier this year, he already made a $900 million mistake when he invested into one of Anheuser-Busch’s largest rivals, Heineken,” he explained.
“He did that earlier this year. And since that investment, Heineken’s down about 10 percent, whereas the broader markets are up 10 percent.
“So, if I was looking for advice on investing to software companies, tech companies, I might go to Bill Gates. But if you’re looking at the beer industry, he doesn’t have a great track record of investing in winners at this point.”
Frericks noted that Gates’ investment will likely hurt Anheuser-Busch further as “everyday” beer drinkers won’t react well to the newly formed alliance.
“For the company’s sake, they’d probably be better off [with] maybe somebody who is more of, kind of the everyman type of person, maybe like a Rob Gronkowski or somebody like that was investing into Anheuser-Busch, not necessarily somebody like Bill Gates,” Frericks explained.
“That doesn’t really resonate with sort of that common man, that everyday Bud Light beer drinker,” he said.
Investor research company TipRanks reported that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust acquired 1,703,000 shares of Anheuser-Busch in the second quarter.
The total purchase was $96,594,160.
Anheuser-Busch stock continues to decrease. Gates’ investment is already down roughly $1.5 million at the time of this report.