Bill Gates appears to believe the owner of Bud Light is poised for a comeback, recently paying $95 million to buy up 1.7 million shares of Anheuser-Busch, according to financial data firm TipRanks.
The 67-year-old billionaire bought up the shares via his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust during the second quarter of this year, TipRanks found.
The Seattle-based charitable foundation reportedly holds assets valued to the tune of $69 billion.
Anheuser-Busch is still reeling five months after 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 and knocked the beer from its No. 1 spot.
Anheuser-Busch’s share price has 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 a national boycott of Bud Light that has shown no signs of slowing down.
Modelo Especial, the nation’s new king of beers, continues to 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,” Williams, the head of the consultancy, told The Post on Monday.
However, Gates is betting that Modelo won’t hold the top dog spot for long.
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.
Representatives for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The Post also sought comment from Anheuser-Busch.
Meanwhile, Bud Light has been clawing to win back its core audience, and distanced itself further from the ill-fated tie-up with Mulvaney by releasing a new ad catering to its core audience of football fans.
The commercial from the longtime National Football League sponsor shows fans gearing up for the upcoming season by preparing meals, drinking Bud Light, wearing replica jerseys at bars and tailgating events — all played to the tune of Etta James’ “A Sunday Kind of Love.”
The minute-long promo ends with the tagline: “Football, Bud Light and Sunday go easy together.”
However, Bud Light’s attempt to win back those who have boycotted the brand was met with some derisive comments on social media.
The aftershocks of the Mulvaney controversy also affected staffers at Captiv8, the California-based marketing firm behind the Bud Light-Mulvaney partnership.
Captiv8 fired more than a dozen employees just days after top brass boasted about a lavish junket to an award ceremony on the French Riviera, The Post reported last week.
In addition, other beer brands under Anheuser-Busch’s umbrella were hurt by Mulvaney’s promo and have lost market share.
Budweiser sales declined 10.3% in the week ended Aug. 19 while Michelob Ultra — another Anheuser-Busch brand — has seen some improvement with a 0.4% increase in sales in the week-long period.
Other non-Anheuser-Busch related brands are stealing market the share. Miller Lite saw 18.5% growth in sales, while Coors Light experienced 21.6% growth and Yuengling Lager saw a 19.7% increase for the week ended Aug. 19, according to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsonIQ data.
Earlier this month, Anheuser-Busch InBev – the Belgian-based parent of the brewery – reported a 10.5% drop in revenue and nearly 30% decrease in profit in the second quarter.
