Talk about a poor choice of words.Yesterday morning, The Wall Street Journal's online "Deal Journal" ran this story entitled "Disaster Averted: Anheuser-Busch Deal Won't Raise Beer Tabs" discussing InBev's victory in a lawsuit (one of many) that sought to slow or stop the InBev takeover of Anheuser-Busch.
Timing-wise however, this report comes on the heals of Anheuser-Busch InBev's major announcement on Monday that the company will lay off about 1,400 employees in the U.S., primarily in the St. Louis area. You think those people feel like disaster was averted?
Come on, Deal Journal. I know sometimes in the fast-paced world of online journalism editorial slips are made, but not only is this headline insensitive, it's not even accurate. "Disaster averted" implies that some proverbial bullet was actively dodged. According to the post, the lawsuit simply posited that the lingering possibility that InBev might build U.S. breweries kept prices low. A judge rejected this unfounded theory, tossing out the lawsuit. That's not averting disaster: That's asserting there was no disaster to begin with.
But regardless, let's keep everything in perspective: Paying a few extra cents for beer is not a disaster. If this economy continues heading in the direction it's going though, we might find out what a disaster really looks like.
[Photo Credit: anheuserbusch.com]
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