I know how this stuff starts sometimes, but I heard from 3 different Anheuser Busch sales reps yesterday that AB is now in negotiations to purchase Red Bull.

What led me to believe that it might be true is that it seems up until a few weeks ago, AB was close to closing a deal with Monster that fell apart.

Perhaps now they have turned their attention towards the market leader.

Am I going crazy, or has anyone else heard anything about this rumour?

i think you are going crazy

IMO

I see no reason why the mad Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz or his partners at TC Pharmaceuticals would sell RedBull.

This brand is a cash cow for both owners. The poularity of the austrian version has caused a huge upward spike in sales of the Thai product that is solely owned by TC Pharmaceuticals. I see no reason why they would want to sell. And they own 49% of the austrain company.
As far as Dietrich Mateschitz, this company is so lurative and has made him so welthy what would posses him to sell out?

While I wouldn’t be surprised to hear AB approached RB about acquiring the brand I can’t imagine that the owners of RB would seriously entertain the prospect.

[ 04-22-2006, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: Lepke ]

Red Bull is a fairly big sales drink. What's up with this news?

Whats wrong with this picture?

Is it just RBNA or Red Bull GmbH Austria? Dietrich Matheschitz owns 49% of Red Bull GmbH Austria. He's been to Thailand several times to try and purchase the 51% of the shares that TC Pharmaceuticals owns but without success.

If what you're saying is true, I think it would only be about RBNA. If it's about Red Bull GmbH Austria, and I strongly doubt it, they could only get the 49% owned by Dietrich Matheschitz's company, which is called "Distribution & Marketing GmbH". TC Pharmaceuticals owns the other 49%, and TC's president, Yoovidya Chalerm owns the other 2%. This means that essentially TC owns 51% and I doubt they will ever sell their shares. They invented Red Bull.

I think Dietrich is too much of a control freak and Red Bull fanatic to sell his entire company. This guy gets incredible satisfaction just from seeing the name Red Bull in as many places as possible worldwide. He bought a Formula 1 team just to show off. That team is a huge company expense. It's costing him much more money than it is generating.

Keep us posted if you get more details.

Brav freakin O man.

DudeMan

You are 100% correct about Der(energy drink) Furor Dietrich Mateschitz. He is a bit of an egomaniac. He just bought a NY soccer team and re-named it the Red Bulls.

He won’t sell.

[ 04-22-2006, 10:00 PM: Message edited by: Lepke ]

There's Pride and Ego, then there's Egotistic.

No acquisition by AB in the energy-drink market is happening according to this April 4 article in the St Louis Post-Dispatch - http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/bus...D?OpenDocument

Goldman- Why did you say that it "seems" a deal with Monster fell apart?

That strikes up an interesting conversation. The responce to which, I too, would like to hear.