If you aren’t up on your beer news then you may not be aware that American icon, Anheuser-Busch, was recently taken over by Belgian based InBev at the cool price of $52 billion. There had been talks of a takeover for a while now, but very few people are probably aware that it was something that happened in the early 1990’s that sealed Anheuser-Busch’s fate before they would even know it. In fact it was the unprofessional behavior of August Busch III, behavior which could be expected from another American with the last name Bush, which cost Anheuser-Busch a relationship that could have prevented them being taken over by InBev.

In the early 1990’s Anheuser was in the works of purchasing a minority stake in Modelo, the makers of Corona, and during the negotiating process August Busch III invited Modelo executives on a sport fishing weekend off the shores of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Right as Busch hooked a huge marlin he was told he had an important business call that he needed to take, so he handed his rod to senior Modelo executive Valentin Diez. When Busch returned from the business call he announced that he was going to have to leave and the trip that was planned to last a weekend but was only a couple hours in to it would have to end. Busch bailing on the trip pissed off Diez as it made him feel like Modelo wasn’t actually important to Anheuser and the deal never went through.

It wasn’t until recently that relations between Modelo and Anheuser-Busch improved; however it was too little too late and now both companies have to deal with InBev. If August Busch III didn’t handle the situation with less business sense than George W. Bush and Anheuser was able to buy stake in Modelo, it would have been near impossible for InBev to take them over. What is it with people with the last name Bush/ Busch making stupid decisions that hurt the U.S.A? First the economy and now the most popular beer in the world.