Report: Anheuser-Busch may consider hard liquor if beer stays flat Posted 6/21/2006 9:41 AM
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Anheuser-Busch (BUD), the largest U.S. brewer, may consider expanding beyond beer in the liquor industry if sales of wine and spirits continue to take market share, The Wall Street Journal said Wednesday. "If this trend continues, we at Anheuser-Busch will have to re-evaluate our business model going forward in terms of expanding beyond beer and broadening our position within the total alcohol industry," said August Busch, president of the company's U.S. beer operations, according to the Journal.
Busch made the remarks this month before a national gathering of state liquor administrators in Boston, the newspaper said.
Since 1995 beer has lost 5 percentage points of U.S. market share to wine and spirits.