Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential GOP presidential nominee for 2024, announced on Thursday that he is initiating an inquiry into AB InBev, the parent company of Bud Light.
The investigation comes as a response to the company’s collaboration with transgender social media influencer, Dylan Mulvaney.
DeSantis accused AB InBev of neglecting its “fiduciary duty” to shareholders and pensioners by engaging with Mulvaney and promoting a political agenda over its business interests. He expressed concerns that this could impact hardworking individuals, including police officers, firefighters, and teachers, who rely on the Florida pension fund.
The governor highlighted that Florida holds around $53 million worth of InBev stock in its pension funds, totaling about $180 billion. According to DeSantis, shareholders experienced adverse effects on Bud Light’s sales due to conservative backlash following the partnership with Mulvaney.
“When you start pursuing a political agenda at the expense of your shareholders, that’s not just impacting very wealthy people. It impacts hardworking people who were police officers, firefighters, and teachers in terms of the pension,” DeSantis said in an interview on Fox News.
He continued, “So we’re going to be launching an inquiry about Bud Light and InBev, and it could be something that leads to a derivative lawsuit filed on behalf of the shareholders of the Florida pension fund because at the end of the day, there’s got to be penalties when you put business aside to focus on your social agenda at the expense of hardworking people.”
