August Busch IV

August Anheuser Busch IV (born June 15, 1964) is the former CEO of Anheuser-Busch who ended the family control of the company in 2008 when it was sold to InBev.

Early life

He is the great-great-grandson of Anheuser-Busch founder Adolphus Busch, the son of former chairman, president and CEO August Busch III. Busch is known by industry insiders as "The Fourth."

Busch's parents divorced when he was five and he lived with his mother. His time with his father was mostly at the brewery and their relationship was, for the most part, professional.^[1]

After graduating in 1982 from Parkway West High School in Ballwin, Missouri, August Busch IV studied as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona. He holds both a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in finance from Saint Louis University. He has a brewmaster’s degree from VLB Berlin.

Anheuser-Busch

Early years

After graduation he followed the family tradition of starting at the bottom of Anheuser-Busch. He worked as a brewing apprentice in the Old Malt House as a union member of Brewers & Maltsters Local 6 in St. Louis, Missouri, as an intern in the Culture Yeast Center, and later as a foreman in packaging and shipping operations.^[2]

In 1989 he moved into marketing, pushing early on the start of the Bud Dry brand which proved to be unsuccessful. He then worked on updating the image of the company's flagship brand, Budweiser, which had been losing market share, launching among other things the Budweiser frogs campaign.

Busch's father initially opposed the campaign; he later admitted "I've lost the ability to understand the 21- to 30-year-olds the way I used to."^[2]

He was Group Vice President-Marketing and Wholesale Operations (2000–2002). He was Vice President and Group Executive of the Company and had served in such capacity since 2000.

Chairman and InBev takeover

In 2002 Busch (and other family members) were passed over when the company named Patrick Stokes its first non-family President and CEO.^[3] Busch's father had said that he only owns 1% of the stock and that the "Board of Directors calls the shots" at the company.^[4]

Busch IV became president and CEO effective December 1, 2006. Busch's father had been criticized for not moving to expand and thus leaving the company open for acquisition. In 2007 August and the directors began discussions to acquire Diageo but the deal never advanced.^[5]

Less than 18 months into his tenure rumors circulated that InBev was attempting to buy the company. In April 2008, Mr. Busch told beer distributors that Anheuser-Busch would never be bought "on my watch." Anheuser's stock had closed at $49.20 on April 30, 2008.^[6] InBev offered $65/share in June and August Busch IV refused. Prior to InBev's offer Anheuser's stock had never been higher than 51.97. To make it more difficult to avoid the takeover August proposed acquiring the remaining 50 percent share it did not own of Grupo Modelo. ^[5] InBev then said it would not include August in the new company board and instead would include his uncle Adolphus Busch IV who had favored the deal.^[7] Eventually InBev sweetened its bid to $70/share and kept August on the board.^[8]

On July 13th, 2008, he signed off on the sale of Anheuser to InBev, ending 156 years of family control.^[9] The deal officially closed on November 18, 2008 just as the Late-2000s recession was beginning.

Press reports indicated that the Busch family ownership of the company had greatly dwindled over the years with Busch's father owning only 1.2 percent of the shares at the time of the takeover. In total the Busch family owned only 4 percent of the company^[10] and were not even the company's biggest stockholders. Barclay's owned 6 percent and Berkshire Hathaway owned 5 percent.^[11] The family did not own supervoting stock as many publicly traded companies with family affiliations and the board did not employ a common takeover defense tactic of staggering its board of directors terms (the AB board was re-elected each year).

According to reports, he and his father August Busch III were estranged and his father engineered the AB takeover blindsiding the son. However the public conflict between father and son led to the higher price.^[5] AB gave August IV a title of nonexecutive director and a contract as a consultant that runs through 2014. He attended seven AB meetings in 2009. He was also given a security detail through 2011.^[12]

The deal was worth nearly $100 million to Busch.^[13] He also received additional fees of about $120,000 a month. ^[14]

Personal

August A. Busch IV holds advanced black belt degrees in the martial arts disciplines of Judo, Tae-Kwon-Do and Hapkido. Busch, reported as a lean 5-foot-10 inch in 2005 and was described as having a striking resemblance to his father.^[10]

Busch married Kathryn "Kate" Thatcher, sixteen years his junior, in August 2006 in Bradford, Vermont^[15] shortly before becoming CEO. He filed for divorce in November 2008 the same month the InBev take over was completed. The couple had a prenuptial agreement.^[15][16] The couple had no children.

Run-ins with the law

Fatal accident (November 13, 1983)

While attending the University of Arizona, Busch was involved in a car wreck that killed Michele Frederick (who was 21), riding with him in his Corvette.^[1][17] According to Tucson police, Busch had left a bar early one morning and wrecked his vehicle while making a sharp turn at high speed. His passenger, a local waitress, flew through the sunroof, and was killed in the accident. Busch walked or crawled from the scene of the accident without informing the police. Police found him at his Tucson townhouse over four miles (6 km) away by River and Campbell, eight hours later, with blood still on his body. Manslaughter charges against Busch were eventually dropped after evidence (blood and urine taken from Busch 12 hours after the accident) was lost or damaged.^[2][18] According to medical reports cocaine was found in Frederick's system.^[19]

Car chase (May 31, 1985)

Busch was arrested after leading police on a car chase with speeds reaching between 85 and 90 mph on Kingshighway Boulevard as he was returning from Sauget, Illinois strip bar PT's Sports Cabaret.^[18] He was accused of intentionally trying to run over two officers with his Mercedes. The officers were in an unmarked police car and the chase ended when they shot out his rear tire. They chased him after he nearly hit a parked car. Busch claimed he thought they were attempting to kidnap him.^[1] He was acquitted by a St. Louis jury.^[20]

Fatal drug overdose (December 19, 2010)

27-year-old Adrienne Nicole Martin was found dead at his 6,300-square-foot (590 m²) home with 16 rooms set on 4 1/2 wooded acres^[12] in the 2800 Block of South Lindbergh Boulevard in Huntleigh, Missouri (38°36′31″N 90°24′15″W / 38.6085650°N 90.4042660°W / 38.6085650; -90.4042660) after household employee Michael Jung^[21] called 911 at 1:15 p.m. The call was reported to have been 42 minutes after a problem was discovered. Busch's attorney Art Margulis denied that anything suspicious occurred and described the death as "tragic and untimely". Busch was divorced in 2009 and Busch was in the house at the time. The matter was investigated by Frontenac, Missouri police rather than Huntleigh although Frontenac police chief Thomas Becker maintained early on there was "no public safety concern regarding the case."^[22][23][24]

The incident which occurred on a Sunday was not reported in the media until the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported it four days later on a Thursday.^[25] Martin, a former Hooters waitress is a divorced mother of one and is reported to have been dating Busch for a year.^[12]

The initial autopsy was inconclusive and didn't reveal signs of trauma. Police reports said they were initially investigating the case as a drug overdose however Martin's ex-husband Kevin J. Martin, a Cape Girardeau, Missouri physician said Martin suffered from Long QT syndrome that could cause an unexpected sudden death. The physician said he had been personally called by August saying "We also both think the world of August...He is a good man." ^[26] The physician said that Martin had been improperly taking Trazodone.^[13]

Busch in his first interview published on January 4 in the Post-Dispatch said that 911 had been called immediately and that he asked Jung to make the call because he was still with her and that "she felt kind of warm." He said that he initially thought she was just sleeping when he woke up about 11 a.m. Busch said. He said that Adrienne had spurred him to give up his playboy ways. "You know, I'm this notorious bachelor who always wanted someone on the side, but I didn't with Adrienne."^[13] They had shared their bed with five of Busch's eight dogs -- five Shih Tzus.^[13] Adrienne's obituary in the Springfield News-Leader described as Busch as "the love of her life."^[27] Adrienne was cremated at the request of her mother five days after the St. Louis County Medical examiner released her body to her. The county's medical examiner said the cremation would not affect the investigation.^[28] Her mother Christine Trampler said Busch had taken her on a helicopter ride the day before she died and had posted it that night on Facebook. She that Adrienne told her that night, "There's a situation that caused her not to sleep." She did elaborate but said it had nothing to do with Busch.^[29]

A toxicology report in February 2011 indicated she had cocaine and oxycodone and the death was in connection with the oxycodone (there was no prescription for the drug) and that the cocaine was at a lethal level. The report further said that a hole in Adrienne's nasal septum indicated "several months to a year of cocaine use."^[19][30]

On March 31, 2011, Adriene's ex-husband Kevin filed a wrongful death suit against Busch on behalf of her son Blake Alexander Martin (born 2003). The handling of the case is to be handle in Cape Girardeau.^[31] In the wake of the suit Adrienne's mother Christine Trampler said she was hiring New York attorney John Q. Kelly (who previously represented Beth Holloway and the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson) to pursue the case because she was concerned that a friendship between Adrienne's ex-husband and Busch would taint the case.^[19]

On April 6, 2011, Adrienne's father George "Larry" Eby joined the suit saying he had been deprived of the "companionship, comfort, instruction, guidance, counsel and training of Adrienne Martin."^[32]

On April 20, 2011, it was revealed that Busch had agreed to a $1.5 million settlement with Martin. The court would decide how much could be allocated to Adrienne's parents.^[33]

Further reading

• Forbes; March 3, 2006
• Business Week; November 11, 2002
• Fortune Magazine; January 13, 1997; "BUD-WEIS-HEIR August Busch IV is rebellious, risk-taking--and (nearly) ready to rule the world's largest brewer". ^[34]
• Under the Influence: The Unauthorized Story of the Anheuser-Busch Dynasty, Peter Hernon & Terry Ganey, Avon Books 1992

References