Anheuser-Busch saw better performance in Q3 of 2023 despite still struggling in the U.S. after controversy surrounding Bud Light’s brief partnership with a transgender influencer.

The company reported revenue growth of 5%, more than was previously forecasted. Growth in the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific helped grow revenue even as the brand experienced weaker sales in the U.S.

Amid the ongoing boycott over Bud Light’s partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney earlier this year, one billionaire investor who's long been the subject of conservatives' ire is now betting on a comeback.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has reportedly purchased 1.7 million shares from Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev via his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. According to TipRanks, the shares have a market value of about $95 million.

Bud Light sales might never fully regain the ground they have lost to competitors. That doesn’t mean Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD 0.55%increase; green up pointing triangle, and its stock, can’t ultimately recover from the fracas. 

Anheuser-Busch announced a steep drop in profits amid the ongoing boycott against Bud Light this week, but the company insists U.S. consumers still have a generally favorable view of the beer brand.

The company announced that its U.S. revenue dropped 10.5% in the 2nd quarter of 2023, while its earnings prior to taxes, interest and depreciation fell 28.2%, according to the Wall Street Journal.

With Bud Light sales continuing to slide since the infamous partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney in April, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s global chief marketing officer Marcel Marcondes admitted the controversy has been a “wake-up call” for the company. 

America’s top-selling beer is no longer American.

Modelo Especial, the Mexican lager brewed near Mexico City by Constellation Brands, became the top-selling beer in May, overthrowing Bud Light from the top spot it has held for more than two decades. The fall from the top further highlighted how much trouble the Anheuser-Busch brand is in following transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s Instagram post showing off a customized Bud Light can.

Bud Light no longer rules the American beer market.

Modelo Especial overtook the brand as the top-selling U.S. beer in May, punctuating a monthslong boycott of Bud Light that has reshuffled the beer industry. 

Modelo represented 8.4% of U.S. retail-store beer sales in the four weeks ended June 3, compared with 7.3% for Bud Light, according to an analysis of Nielsen data by consulting firm Bump Williams.

Bud Light no longer holds the title as America’s most popular beer amid ongoing boycotts against the brand over its decision to wade into radical political waters by partnering with a transgender influencer.

Modelo Especial replaced Bud Light as the top-selling beer in May. Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev owns Modelo in most international locations except the U.S., where it’s owned by the New York-based Constellation Brands.

Some corporation had to show how 'woke' marketing could cost an iconic American brand dearly in terms of its image, its sales, and its market capitalization.

We should all be grateful to Anheuser-Busch.

Some corporation had to show how “woke” marketing could cost an iconic American brand dearly in terms of its image, its sales, and its market capitalization.

Through its special beer can produced for transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Anheuser-Busch, in effect, volunteered for duty.

The CEO of Bud Light’s parent company blamed online misinformation for the controversy surrounding its marketing with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, in an interview with the Financial Times, doubling down on a strategy to distance the beer brand from a political controversy that sunk sales volumes in the U.S. over the past month.