Donald Trump's $5M in Bud Light Stock Raises Eyebrows

Former President Donald Trump's ownership of up to $5 million in stocks in Bud Light's parent company has come under the spotlight after he defended the brand.

The GOP frontrunner called on people to give Anheuser-Busch InBev, the company that produces Bud Light, "a second chance," following backlash last year over its collaboration with Dylan Mulvaney.

Last April, Bud Light partnered with Mulvaney, a transgender social media influencer, to promote its products via a TikTok video. Since then, conservatives and others have slammed the brand, with many boycotting it.

In the past, however, Trump has been quieter than many conservatives on the Bud Light boycotts and has continued selling the beer at his hotels, and in a Tuesday post to Truth Social, he called Anheuser-Busch a "Great American Brand."

When Trump spoke out in support of the brand, shares of Anheuser-Busch rose 3 percent in premarket trading.

With that in mind, commentators questioned the Republican's motivations.

"Trump is defending Anheuser-Busch/Bud Light and trying to undermine the most effective boycott of a company for pushing transgenderism. Remember that Team Trump initially tried to stop this boycott but failed. Now they're at it again, likely due to some financial arrangement," Pedro Gonzalez, a columnist for the conservative magazine Chronicles, posted on X, formerly Twitter. He did not include any further evidence for the claim.

Sawyer Hackett, a Democratic strategist, said Trump's statement was motivated by his stock and links to one of the company's lobbyists.

Jason Miller, a lobbyist whose firm has collected $820,000 from Anheuser-Busch since 2020, including $270,000 last year, according to lobbying disclosures, is hosting a campaign fundraiser with Donald Trump Jr. to raise funds for the elder Trump's joint campaign, as first reported by Politico.

Newsweek has contacted a representative for Trump by email for comment.

Trump's post on Truth Social in full read: "The Bud Light ad was a mistake of epic proportions, and for that a very big price was paid, but Anheuser-Busch is not a Woke company, but I can give you plenty that are, am building a list, and might just release it for the World to see," he said.

"Why not, the Radical Left does it viciously to well run, Conservative companies - and people! Very nasty, but it's the way they play the game! On the other hand, Anheuser-Busch spends $700 Million a year with our GREAT Farmers, employ 65 thousand Americans, of which 1,500 are Veterans, and is a Founding Corporate Partner of Folds of Honor, which provides Scholarships for families of fallen Servicemen & Women. They've raised over $30,000,000 and given 44,000 Scholarships. Anheuser-Busch is a Great American Brand that perhaps deserves a Second Chance? What do you think? Perhaps, instead, we should be going after those companies that are looking to DESTROY AMERICA!"

Trump's financial links to Bud Light's parent company have been reported by multiple publications including The Independent and Citizens for Ethics, which cited financial disclosures he signed and submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Trump is not the only conservative figure who has recently defended the brand, which is a prominent Republican Party donor, among them Donald Trump Jr. in April.

"Is this a one-off colossal screw up? Or is it something bigger," Trump Jr. asked. "This could be the act of one rogue woke lunatic in a marketing department filled with leftist staffers... In woke corporate America, Anheuser-Busch supports Republicans. Last cycle their employees and their PAC gave about 60 percent to Republicans."