Bill Gates recently paid $95 million to buy up 1.7 million shares of Anheuser-Busch following the nationwide Bud Light boycott, according to financial data firm TipRanks. The 67-year-old globalist billionaire bought up the shares via his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust during the second quarter of this year, TipRanks said.
Gates’ notorious foundation reportedly holds assets valued at more than $69 billion.
NYPost report: Anheuser-Busch is still reeling five months after the St. Louis, Mo.-based brewer tapped transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote Bud Light on her social media — a marketing campaign that ended in disaster with sales falling off a cliff.
Anheuser-Busch’s share price also slipped nearly 9% over the past six months, and it’s down over 3%, to $56.08, in the past five days — a result of the boycott of Bud Light that is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.
Modelo Especial, the nation’s new top-selling beer, continues to easily outsell Bud Light. Last week, it widened its lead in year-to-date sales over Bud Light, accounting for 8.4% of beer sales in stores through Aug. 19, compared to Bud Light’s 8.2% share, Bump Williams Consulting and NielsonIQ reported earlier this week.
“More consumers are buying Modelo more frequently and in greater quantities before the summer ends,” said Williams, the head of the consultancy.
However, Gates is betting that Americans will forgive and forget and Bud Light will come roaring back.
It’s not the first time the Microsoft founder has invested his money in beer brands, despite writing in a 2018 question-and-answer session on Reddit that he’s “not a big beer drinker.”
In February, Gates scooped up a 3.76% stake in Heineken Holding NV, acquiring 10.8 million shares in the Dutch drinks giant valued at $939.87 million at the time of purchase.
Gates purchased the shares from Mexico’s FEMSA, whose brewery was sold to Heineken in 2010.