Bud Light could be permanently losing shelf space to rivals, Anheuser-Busch sees revenue plummet by a whopping $395 million

The Bud Light boycott is still causing economic harm to the beer brand's parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Since the boycott of Bud Light after the brand partnered with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney in April, sales of the beer brand plummeted.

Anheuser-Busch's revenue declined 10.5% year-over-year in North America, according to the second-quarter corporate earnings data. Compared to the same time a year ago, AB InBev revealed revenue plummeted a whopping $395 million.

Anheuser-Busch InBev admitted the significant decline was "primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light."

While revenue dropped in North America, AB InBev's global revenue increased by 7.2%

"EBITDA declined by 28.2%, with approximately two-thirds of this decrease attributable to market share performance and the remainder from productivity loss, increased sales and marketing investments and support measures for our wholesaler partners," Anheuser-Busch InBev said in the second-quarter earnings report.

The Belgium-based owner of Bud Light noted that its global beer brands of Modelo in Mexico and Spaten in Brazil saw revenue grow by more than 10% in the second quarter of 2023.

"Our global brands grew revenue by 18.4% outside of their home markets, led by Corona, which was recently recognized by Kantar BrandZ as the #1 fastest growing global beer brand by value, which grew by 23.7%," Anheuser-Busch InBev stated.

Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said on an earnings call, "Regardless of favorability, our consumers across all sentiment groups have three points of feedback in common. One, they want to enjoy their beer without a debate. Two, they want Bud Light to focus on beer. Three, they want Bud Light to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love, such as NFL, (veteran charity) Folds of Honor and music."

Bud Light could be permanently losing shelf space to competitors, according to a main Anheuser-Busch InBev rival.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week, "There are reasons to believe that Bud Light sales might be permanently impaired. Molson Coors Chief Executive Gavin Hattersley said on a conference call with analysts that retailers are already reallocating space to other brands during shelf resets that take place in the spring, with more resets to come in the fall. In bars and other on-premise channels, the company gained more than 12,000 tap handles in the quarter, he added."

Hattersley declared that Molson Coors is planning on spending an additional $100 million on marketing to keep the sales momentum going.

"Our job is to maintain those gains that we’ve got," Hattersley said.

An anonymous beer distributor told the New York Post, "Consumers have made a choice. They have left [Bud Light] and that’s how it’s going to be. I don’t envision a big percentage of them coming back."

Last week, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced it was laying off about 350 employees.

Last month, a survey found that Bud Light is no longer one of the top 10 beers in the United States.

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