A former Anheuser-Busch executive has claimed that institutional investors are pushing left-wing ideology on the companies they invest in, spurring recent controversies like the ones that engulfed Bud Light and Target.
Anson Frericks, a co-founder of Strive Asset Management who previously spent a decade at Anheuser-Busch, made the claim in an interview on Tuesday on .
'You just have to follow the money.
Take a look at BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard -- they manage $20 billion worth of capital,' he said.
Frericks said a lot of the money managed by institutional investors comes from big pension funds like those of the state of California, which put ideological pressure on the money managers.
'They -- State Street, BlackRock, Vanguard -- they have to commit to ESG, diversity, equity and inclusion and adopt firm-wide commitments that they therefore then force on to all of major company in corporate America,' said Frericks.
Anson Frericks, a co-founder of Strive Asset Management who previously spent a decade at Anheuser-Busch, blamed marketing controversies on institutional investors
Shares of AB InBev and Target have both fallen more that 17% after recent controversies
According to Frericks' LinkedIn profile, he left Anheuser-Busch in April 2022.
Asked if he left the company because he witnessed pressure from institutional investors, Frericks demurred, saying: 'Not necessarily because of Anheuser-Busch, but a lot of other companies.'
In fact, institutional investors own only 5.29 percent of the outstanding shares of the brewer's Belgium-based parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev, according to .
AB InBev has a complex shareholder structure due to various mergers over the years, but a small ownership group controls roughly 43 percent of the company's voting stock, through a holding company known as Stichting Anheuser-Busch InBev and related smaller entities.
Stichting Anheuser-Busch InBev appoints nine directors to the company's board, in addition to three independent directors and three directors appointed by the restricted shareholders.
The company's stock is down 17.8 percent since Bud Light's April 1 partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney triggered anti-LGBTQ backlash and boycotts.
Retail chain Target came under similar pressure, after items in its Pride Month merchandise angered conservatives, including women's swimwear marketed as 'tuck friendly' to accommodate biologically male genitalia.
Retail chain Target came under similar boycott threats, after items in its Pride Month merchandise angered conservatives
The latest data indicates a hardening of recent sales trends, after Bud Light's April 1 promotion with Mulvaney (above) sparked anti-LGBTQ backlash and boycott threats
Shares of Target are down 17.23 percent since May 17, before the controversy emerged.
Target does have significant institutional ownership, with institutional investors controlling 81 percent of the company's shares.
Vanguard Group is the largest single shareholder, with a stake of roughly 9 percent at the end of March.
Several Target stores in the rural South have now reportedly hidden and toned down the Pride sections, and staff members at Target headquarters are said to have held an 'emergency' meeting to avoid what one insider called a ' Bud Light situation .'
In a statement last week, Target - led by CEO Brian Cornell - announced the company had pulled some items it had received complains about, specifying that they have 'been at the center of the most confrontational behavior.
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'Since introducing this year's collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members' sense of safety and wellbeing while at work,' the firm said in its statement.
'Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.'