Leading brewery Anheuser-Busch looks to cut costs by offering an early retirement plan to its 1,300 employees already 55 or older. All eligible employees will be able to receive severance pay worth up to a year?s salary, and some 350 select employees will also be considered for enhanced benefits. W. Randolph Baker, the only eligible executive, could receive 2.7 million dollars by participating in the program. The company expects to reduce its salaried staff by 10 to 15 percent with this program. Shares of Anheuser-Busch fell 5 cents today, and the company recently agreed to be sold to InBev SA, maker of Stella Artois.
See "Anheuser-Busch ups retirement plan for key workers", AP, The Washington Post, August 11, 2008