Anheuser-Busch InBev

Two beverage industry titans are teaming up to enter the $1 billion ready-to-drink premium bottled tea segment. On Thursday, Starbucks and Anheuser-Busch InBev announced a partnership to manufacture and distribute a ready-to-drink bottled tea under the Starbucks-owned Teavana brand, which Starbucks acquired in 2012 for $620 million. The product is slated to launch in the first half of 2017.

With the U.S. Department of Justice on the verge of green-lighting Anheuser-Busch InBev’s proposed $106 billion takeover of SABMiller, according to Bloomberg, Brewers Association CEO Bob Pease has penned a New York Times opinion piece about the potential repercussions of the “MegaBrew” merger. In his op-ed, Pease expressed concerns about A-B InBev’s ability to “stifle consumer choice” and “choke off America’s beer renaissance,” by restricting access to market.

Officials from the United States Department of Justice are investigating Anheuser-Busch InBev over a controversial incentive plan aimed at rewarding beer wholesalers who focus on selling products from the world’s largest beer maker, according to the Reuters news agency. At the crux of the DOJ probe are anticompetitive concerns over A-B InBev’s Voluntary Anheuser-Busch Incentive For Performance (VAIP) program.

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In the midst of last week’s Craft Brewers Conference, and on the heels of disappointing first quarter earnings from the country’s largest publicly traded craft outfit, Boston Beer, a trio of beer companies last week released their Q1 financial results. All three companies — Anheuser-Busch InBev, MillerCoors and Craft Brew Alliance — each posted first quarter depletion declines.

Brewing America’s No. 1 full-flavored lager requires tireless hard work, commitment, and attention to detail—so does training, qualifying and competing in the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Inspired by the devotion and grit that it takes to go for gold, the Official Beer Sponsor of Team USA has recruited six exciting athletes to join Team Budweiser.

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Talk about having your finger on the pulse: Anheuser-Busch InBev will wholly acquire one of Italy’s most popular craft breweries, Birra del Borgo. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed and Birra del Borgo founder Leonardo Di Vincenzo will continue to serve as CEO.

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First Beverage Financial, the investment banking arm of First Beverage Group, announced that it acted as the financial advisor to Devils Backbone Brewing Company in its agreement to sell to The High End, the craft business unit of Anheuser-Busch. Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of the year, were not disclosed.

The sale of Devils Backbone to beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev has had rapid aftershocks within the industry. Devils Backbone co-owner Steve Crandall, who had served on the board of the non-profit trade association and chaired the group’s market development committee, offered his resignation last Tuesday, the same day his company announced the sale to A-B, Crandall told Brewbound.

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Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced it would acquire Virginia-based Devils Backbone Brewing Company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed and the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter. The move is part of an ongoing march into the craft brewing world by the world’s largest brewery, which has acquired eight craft beer companies since 2011.