FLORIDA — Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for an investigation into Anheuser-Busch InBev’s actions regarding their Bud Light marketing campaign and falling stock prices.
On July 20, DeSantis sent a letter to the state’s pension fund manager, Lamar Taylor, regarding the State Board of Administration’s investment into the beer company.
“It has come to my attention that the State Board of Administration (SBA) currently holds global equity assets with Anheuser-Bush InBev (AB InBev),” the letter read.
In the letter, DeSantis said the company violated legal responsibilities to its shareholders when it decided to align its marketing with what the governor calls “radical social ideologies.”
The beermaker launched a social media campaign earlier this year to promote Bud Light with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, prompting boycotts of the brand and a drastic drop in sales.
“Last month, Reuters reported that since Bud Light’s bizarre marketing misstep, it has ‘lost its top spot in the US beer market,’” the letter read. “Data shows that the company’s politicization of its Bud Light brand may be dragging down the value of other beverages within the AB InBev umbrella.”
In March, Florida’s pension fund held 682,000 shares of Anheuser-Busch.
DeSantis maintains Florida’s legal commitments and obligations remain perfectly clear, “We must prudently manage the funds of Florida’s hardworking law enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters, and first responders in a manner that focuses on growing returns, not subsidizing an ideological agenda through woke virtue signaling,” he wrote.