watch
now
Former
President
Donald
Trump‘s
social
media
post
earlier
in
the
week
asking
his
supporters
to
give
Anheuser-Busch
a
“second
chance”
came
after
Ultimate
Fighting
Championship
President
Dana
White
personally
asked
him
to
back
the
beer
company,
a
person
familiar
with
the
situation
told
CNBC.
Anheuser-Busch
last
year
suffered
a
major
backlash
over
its
Bud
Light
marketing
promotion
with
a
transgender
influencer,
Dylan
Mulvaney.
White,
whose
UFC
is
the
leading
mixed
martial
arts
promotion
company,
reached
out
directly
to
Trump
to
encourage
positive
commentary
about
Anheuser-Busch,
according
to
the
person.
In
his
Truth
Social
post
Tuesday,
Trump
appeared
to
be
well-informed
about
detailed
aspects
of
the
beverage
company’s
operations.
He
noted
that
the
company
spends
$700
million
a
year
“with
our
GREAT
Farmers,”
employs
65,000
Americans
and
has
provided
scholarships
to
families
of
fallen
members
of
the
military.
Trump
wrote,
“Anheuser-Busch
is
a
GREAT
American
brand
that
perhaps
deserves
a
Second
Chance?”
UFC,
which
is
owned
by
TKO
Group
Holdings,
in
October
announced
a
partnership
with
Anheuser-Busch
to
make
Bud
Light
the
official
beer
partner
of
the
mixed
martial
arts
company,
in
a
deal
that
was
reported
at
the
time
to
be
worth
$100
million.
In
a
press
release
announcing
the
deal,
White
said,
“There
are
many
reasons
why
I
chose
to
go
with
Anheuser-Busch
and
Bud
Light,
most
importantly
because
I
feel
we
are
very
aligned
when
it
comes
to
our
core
values
and
what
the
UFC
brand
stands
for.”
A
spokesman
for
UFC
declined
to
comment
on
White’s
conversation
with
Trump.
A
spokesperson
for
Anheuser-Busch
did
not
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.
In
his
social
media
post
on
Tuesday,
Trump
threatened
to
release
a
list
of
companies
—
other
than
Anheuser-Busch
—
that
he
considers
to
be
“woke.”
“Am
building
a
list,
and
might
just
release
it
for
the
World
to
see,”
Trump
wrote.
His
followers,
Trump
suggested,
should
be
“going
after
those
companies
that
are
looking
to
DESTROY
AMERICA!”
Those
comments
came
after
Trump
in
a
social
media
post
on
Sunday
was
much
more
critical
of
the
company,
saying: “the
Bud
Light
ad
will
go
down
as
the
WORST
AD
in
history.”
“In
a
matter
of
minutes
30
billion
dollars
worth
of
market
cap
simply
disappeared
from
the
face
of
the
earth.
Will
they
ever
get
it
back?
Who
knows,
but
what
a
mess!”
Trump
wrote.
Trump,
who
is
the
front-runner
for
the
Republican
presidential
nomination,
attended
UFC’s
Dec.
16
event
in
Las
Vegas,
where
he
walked
out
into
the
audience
with
White
and
the
musical
artist
Kid
Rock.
Trump
had
attended
two
other
UFC
events
previously
in
2023
and
had
been
at
other
of
the
promoter’s
events
in
prior
years.
