(Wall Street Journal) - If ever an American company represented the land of milk and honey for corporate executives it was Anheuser- Busch, though perhaps the land of hops, rice and barley would be more apt. For decades a palace of well-paid vice presidents in cushy offices presided over the manufacture of Budweiser, America's beer, in that most American of cities, St. Louis. They also oversaw the Busch Gardens theme parks in Virginia and in Florida, where Shamu the killer whale was on the payroll, along with a stable of
250 Clydesdale horses. It was a first-class operation all the way. There were $1,000 dinners, hunting lodges, sky suites at Busch Stadium and a fleet of Dassault Falcon corporate jets with a staff of 20 waiting pilots. Every kitchenette refrigerator at corporate headquarters was well stocked with Bud, Bud Lite and Michelob.And why shouldn't the execs live well? The massive, 150-year-old company had an estimated value of $40 billion to $50 billion. Budweiser was, and is, one of the most recognized brands in the world, ahead of McDonald's, Disney and Apple. "Few companies on earth were more evocative of America, with all of its history and iconography, than Anheuser-Busch," writes veteran Financial Times journalist Julie MacIntosh in her strenuously reported book, "Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon" (Amazon:
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