"The King is Dead"

After a long weekend of work and performances I was looking forward to having a couple of hours to sleep in today, yet that was unfortunately shattered. As usual the alarm went off at 5:45...just a friendly reminder for my wife and I that it is indeed time to get up and get rolling. I had already made the decision to ignore the magnanimous signal and go back to sleep. My wife took her cue to get up and start getting ready for work, I returned to the hazy "middle ground" between sleep and awake. No big deal, happens all the time. Out of my periphery I hear the normal sounds of our morning ritual; the shower, the fridge, the TV, when all of a sudden I hear a gasp and an audible "oh no." I wasn't sure what to think. So I turned on the TV in the bedroom just in time to hear Matt Lauer tell me that Anheuser-Busch accepted a second bid from InBev and that "the King of Beers" in its American form would be no more. It goes to show you that I know little about the world of business and the indelible lure of the almighty dollar. ($5 dollars to be exact $65-$70 a share)

Ever since I was a kid growing up in St. Louis I knew of the "King of Beers" not because, as anyone who knows me can attest, I drink a lot, but because they were so associated with my home town. After all there was Busch Stadium, Grant's Farm (run by the Anheuser-Busch company), the Clydesdales, the (seemingly unattainable) Busch Gardens, the Anheuser Busch brewery tour which at the time was also the maker of Eagle Snacks, and the St. Louis Cardinals who up until 1995 were owned by the Busch Family. My first legal alcoholic drink was a Budweiser and if I go to a bar you better be sure that I'm asking for a Bud product but I can't help but feel a little betrayed by "the board" this morning. The folks on both sides of the aisle say that nothing really will change and that it will be better business in the long run, yet I can't help but think of the possibility of something so synonymous with the city I love going away.

I always thought that you can't put a price on tradition and pride, well I guess I was wrong and I should have seen it coming. Everything else has a price why not these. That must be why I'm not a millionaire and Warren Buffet is. It's not that I'm anti InBev or even anti making money I just thought that some things shouldn't change and tradition is tradition there's not a price. I guess that's just business, "The King is Dead, Long Live the King."

With the loss of a great American tradition to the vices of greed and wealth here's a couple more suggestions we might be able to get away with while we're at it, after all the revolving door of business swings both ways doesn't it?
"The Great Wall-Mart"-Struggling to repair their image before the Beijing Olympics the Chinese Government decides to sell the Great Wall of China to American company Wal-Mart. The hope is that the great American juggernaut can whip up a public relations campaign to take the country, company and communism, international.
"The Pfizer-Eiffel Tower" - After much convincing the Pfizer company has finally lured French officials to allow them purchasing rights to the coveted landmark yet they assert the integrity and meaning of the great structure will not change.
"The New York Arsenal" - New stadium, new name, new ownership. During the 2008 season, where the New York Yankees are struggling to pick up 1st place in their division the Steinbrenner family has decided to sell the team to Peter Denis Hill-Wood chairman of the Aresenal Football club. The timing was right, it is a time of change.
"Britvic-Cola" - Sensing an increase in popularity of soft drinks in Europe since the formation of the European Union Coca-Cola has decided to sell the controlling interest of its shares to Brittish soft drink maker Britvic. The only noticeable change will be the transformation of Santa Clause to the more European La Befana and Jultomten during holiday marketing campaigns.