Pointing to concerns about a hit to Florida’s pension fund, Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to know if the state can take legal action against beer company AB InBev, which has been embroiled in a controversy involving transgender social-media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
DeSantis on Thursday directed State Board of Administration Interim Director Lamar Taylor to examine how AB InBev’s conduct has affected the value of state holdings in the company. The State Board of Administration oversees money in the Florida Retirement System and other state funds.
“It appears to me that AB InBev may have breached legal duties owed to its shareholders, and that a shareholder action may be both appropriate and necessary,” DeSantis wrote in a letter to Taylor. The letter came as AB InBev continues to face conservative backlash over a promotional effort with Mulvaney.
The backlash began when Anheuser-Busch, which is part of AB InBev, sent Mulvaney a special can of Bud Light that included a message on the top of the can that said, “Cheers to 365 Days of Being a Woman.” As of February, the State Board of Administration handled $235 billion in assets, including $180.4 billion in the Florida Retirement System pension plan. Included in the holdings were at least 682,000 shares in AB InBev, with a value of roughly $46 million.
AB InBev stock price stood at $58.73 on Friday morning. That was up from $54.41 a year ago, but down from $66.73 at the start of April. In May, Bud Light lost its top spot in the U.S. beer market. Anheuser-Busch U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth in late June defended the company, saying the brand is about “bringing people together.”
–News Service of Florida
Tom Hutson says
Oh no, Wow say it is not true!
Not another Florida Business our Commander in Chief of the Florida Militia/State Guard, Election Police, Educator, Doctor, Attorney, Family Advisor, Bedroom Monitor, U.S. President wannabe; Governor is after. Oh, I know why, it just another “WOKE” organization.
Note to our Florida Commander in Chief, all this “BULLYING” by you and your “MINIONS” is not going to get you elected President of the United States!!
Justbob says
Petty vengeful homophobic little twit.
Bell says
If the law supports it, file the suit. Fiduciary duty cannot be disregarded and cannot allow shareholders to suffer financially if the mistake was a clear disregard of said fiduciary duty.
john stove says
Wow….can Dumbsantis be any more imbecilic? This guy is running for the moron of the year award. Does the State Pension fund own any Disney stock?….go after them too…oh yeah I started a pissing match with them that I am going to lose! Has he done anything positive for Floridians?….can he look at Homeowners Insurance, how about Florida having the highest inflation in the country?
I am getting my popcorn ready for when he goes down in flames after he blames the “woke” country for not making him President.
What a loser
Laurel says
Ron, you ignorant sl_t! You are absolutely, no doubt in my mind, the stupidest, nastiest and most useless governor this state has ever had! I really seriously think something is wrong with your mind. Instead of spending our money running around the country, how about doing your job? Not for you? No, I see your personal logo has your name in big letters printed top of a very tiny State of Florida. Yes, we know what you think of Florida.
You’re an embarrassment, to anyone who is normal in this state, and I’m waiting for you and your time and money wasted wokeadversion to just fade away.
Denali says
Jesus Tap Dancing Christ ! ! ! Does this moron have nothing better to do that make a fool of himself and what is left of the self-respecting citizens of Florida? Do not answer that, I know the answer. Stocks go up, stocks go down; if you cannot weather the ebb and flow, get out of the market. Wish I had a team of taxpayer paid boot lickers to go sue every company I invested in which did not perform as well as I thought it should. Fact is that the stock value rose almost $2.8 million over the last year, 5+%. Not record breaking but respectable.
Just more red meat for what he considers to be his base. After all why should he care about important things like insurance companies fleeing the state like rats off a sinking ship. And those that do stay are raping their customers. We can insure three cars, a tractor with all its equipment, a new Gator, a new 54″ lawn tractor and a 4,000 sf house at the farm up north for less than we pay for homeowner’s here on a 2200 sf house – and still have over $1K left to put in our pocket. The man is a train wreck.
The Sour Kraut says
I can’t believe this Bud Light controversy is still a thing. Don’t people have anything better to do? There are so many more important things going on in the world (or even just in Palm Coast).
JEK says
Ron DeSatan would rather spend his time on this type of stuff than on real issues facing the state of Florida. When we vote he needs the old kick in the pants and out the door.
Jim says
So let’s put this in perspective…. A US company makes a decision to use a certain person as a spokesperson for their product in the expectation that they can grow their product share in a certain part of the market. But they make a miscalculation and draw criticism from other parts of their existing market and sales suffer.
The government decides that they will investigate the company because the stock price has fallen and affected their holdings in that company…..
That’s a supremely wise decision by DeSantis. Obviously he believes that AB deliberately made a move they knew would impact their company in a negative way with the express purpose of hurting their stockholders….
Because we know ALL companies are not interested in their stockholders! NO company took the tax cuts from the previous administration and bought back their shares to drive up the stock price! Company boards and CEO’s look for ways to decrease their stock price, right? (Right??!!).
This is another DeSantis joke designed to appease the wingnuts that buy into the “anti-WOKE” culture war BS that DeSantis so revels in.
Hey, DeSantis, if you really want to help Florida’s holdings in AB, tell all your buddies (Opps, you don’t have any, I forgot). Tell all your zombie followers to buy AB beer again. Make AB great again…
How’s that run for Prez going…????
palmcoaster says
First was Disney now is the European owned worldwide brand Inbev…how many thousand jobs will FL loose if they will pull out of FL a state that needs as is so many more job openings than has now. Why don’t we Live and Let Live and let Freedom Shine?
MeToo says
DuhSantis is just a total idiot. Why don’t you do what you were voted in to do and be a Governor? Stop throwing temper tantrums and work for us instead making us the laughing stock of the US! AB did not do this to purposely make stocks drop you idiot. You are just a sue happy idiot. I have no idea how you got to the Governor’s Mansion but I’ll do everything in my power to keep you from going to the White House!
Steve says
You can’t Legislate Morality. Good luck
Steve Ward says
Ron Culture War DUHSantis= DUHsaster
Bell says
Morality is not the issue. Fiduciary duty may be. That is covered under civil statutes. Not sure if a company making an idiotic decision that costs money and diminishes stockholders’ value qualifies as a breach of fiduciary duty or not. That may be for the courts to decide. As I am not an attorney licensed to practice will leave that to
them.
Bill C says
DeSantis should sue himself. He’s the one attacking these companies and driving their stock prices down, using his platform as governor to do it.
The dude says
Now do Tesla… the new Daily Stormer.
Ed says
Wingnuts, Imbeciles,Morons,Bully,Minions, Homophobic twit (little twit, are you a leaner),Fool, Train wreck ,Satin, Zombie Followers, idiots, and Ignorant shit.
So much for respect of the office of governor or any decorum.
You’ re starting to win me over.
Denali says
Please elaborate on the ‘civil statutes’ you mention. Would be a most interesting read.
Sherry says
Looking for the center of the democracy killing hurricane called “Culture Wars”?
The “tag team” of trump and desantis is at the very center!
The lethal “inner bands” of “corruption, white supremacy, Qanon insanity and immorality” include members of Congress. MTG (Jewish Space Lasers) “Joe Biden’s 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you, replacing your jobs and replacing your kids in school and, coming from all over the world, they’re also replacing your culture. And that’s not great for America.”. . . among many others, especially in the House of Representatives. In addition, consider the ethically corrupt members of the Supreme Court. . . with a Chief Justice that refuses to implement ethics rules that are “required” at all other levels of the federal court system.
Our entire democratic system is in great peril! Democrats. . . get out there and vote to save our country!
Bell Bell says
I found this. http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0607/Sections/0607.0830.html
Again I am not a licensed attorney nor privy to all the facts. My guess is no one commenting on this is actually privy to a number of facts that if a case exists would be germain to it. However, fiduciary duty is a very common element in many places in business law.
Going to hazard a guess the FL DA has the appropriate background to look into this if it is a legal matter worth persuing. Also believe the governor of FL is a Harvard Law School grad so he may have some insight into the matter even though he may not be a corporate attorney specialist.
dave says
Why does this wacko Capt Woke Gov do but insult voters and big business in his home state. Good grief. . Because he thinks he’s what special. Fix the things that are broke Gov IN OUR STATE, like stop telling homeowners in Florida to be patient about the huge home insurance crisis that is going on. He can’t even fix that, which tells me he will never get elected if he can’t address a huge financial burden a lot of Fla homeowners are encountering. Be patient my ass. Do something Gov.
.