“Corporate Consolidation” can be a snooze-worthy term. But if you caught Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” Sunday, Sept. 24, you may have walked away with a headache when you realized how mergers and acquisitions have real-world impacts on things you care about, like beer.
The airline industry takes a beating during Oliver’s segment. He cites a CNN report that shows in 2000, the U.S. had 10 “large airlines” (American, TWA, America West, US Airways, Delta, NWA, United, Continental, AirTran, Southwest) — but today, there are four “mega airlines” who control more than 80 percent of the U.S. market (American, Delta, United, Southwest). Oliver’s point is that a dramatic decline of competition is hurting the customer — like baggage fees, which netted airlines about $540 million a decade ago to $4.2 billion in 2016 (according to the Bureau of Transportation Services).
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“You may be angry with the service you get from airlines, but thanks to consolidation, they don’t really need to give a sh*t what you think,” he quips.
Oliver’s next point is that mergers also mean customers sometimes think they’re supporting a small business, but they’re actually paying for products made by a behemoth corporation.
“Even some brands you might think of as indie now have multinational owners,” he says, citing examples like Burt’s Bees — owned by Clorox — and Tom’s of Maine belonging to Colgate-Palmolive. He doesn’t let the beer business off the hook either.
“There is Goose Island. Their ads speak to bearded brewers rubbing hops on their faces,” Oliver says, as a video of brewers plays beside him, “but what they don’t mention is that Goose Island is run by Anheuser-Busch, and that farm you just saw is located at 822 Budweiser Loop — it’s presumably just past Bud Light’s Lime-a-Rita Boulevard.”
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The rental car business, eyeglasses and metal cans are all more fodder for Oliver’s segment, which you can watch below (Note: The clip features adult language and adult content). If you’re still shrugging your shoulders and responding, “Who cares?” when Big Beer buys breweries, maybe re-watch the video the next time you’re sitting on an airplane in a cramped seat (that you paid an extra $24 to get), hoping your luggage (which cost an extra $35 to get on the plane) lands at the same place you do. Let’s talk then.
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