TheQuartering [7/27/2023]
Anheuser-Busch plans to lay off hundreds of corporate employees, a company spokesperson told ABC News on Thursday.
The layoffs come months after a product endorsement from Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, in April set off a consumer boycott among conservatives that hammered sales.
The layoffs will affect “less than 2%” of the company’s U.S. employees, the company said. That figure amounts to roughly 380 workers, since the company’s website says it employs a total of about 19,000 U.S.-based workers.
The layoffs will affect workers “across every corporate function” but will not impact frontline workers, such as warehouse staff, drivers and salespeople, the company spokesperson said.
“Today we took the very difficult but necessary decision to eliminate a number of positions across our corporate organization,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement to ABC News. “While we never take these decisions lightly, we want to ensure that our organization continues to be set for future long-term success.”
The layoffs were originally reported by CNN and the Wall Street Journal.
Sales of Bud Light across the U.S. fell for at least six weeks after the start of the boycott, according to data from Bump Williams Consulting and Nielsen NIQ reviewed by ABC News. For instance, sales dropped nearly 26% over the week ending on May 20, the data showed.