More Red Herrings

Anheuser-Busch is trying to drum up public concern over Belgium-based InBev's $46.3 billion takeover offer based on the American beer company falling into foreign hands.  It's unfortunately become far too commonplace for a domestic company to whip up fear of foreigners as a means to undo what's happening in the marketplace. Despite InBev's promise not to close any of Anheuser-Busch's existing breweries in the U.S. and its commitment to keep Busch's base in St. Louis by making the city the North American headquarters of the combined company -- those trying to stop the deal keep throwing up concerns of job losses due to InBev being based abroad.  A recent Wall Street Journal editorial, "This Bud's for Whom?" does an excellent job of sorting out the facts.

Then there's French defense electronics maker Safran, which submitted an unsolicited bid for Digimarc, a U.S. maker of identification cards.  In this case, we have a domestic rival, L-1 Solutions doing the muckraking.  According to a recent Financial Times piece, Robert LaPenta, chairman and chief executive of L-1 Identity said, "Placing the credentialing of US citizens in the hands of a foreign entity calls to question many potential dangers, including concerns of national security." Further, he stated, "I am certain that the federal government . . . will not prefer to place US citizens' personal information . . . in the hands of a company outside our national borders."  All this about a company that has operated in the United States for 30 years and is based in an ally country?  Did I mention that Safran's biggest customer is U.S.-based Boeing?  And according to the FT, its technology is already being used by the US air force, navy and army.