Anheuser-Busch to Close Two US Breweries, Sell Third

Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based brewer of brands including Budweiser and Bud Light, announced plans Thursday to close two facilities and sell a third in the United States, affecting 475 full-time employees as part of a nearly $2 billion modernization effort for its manufacturing network.

The company will shut down its breweries in Fairfield, California, and Merrimack, New Hampshire, in early 2026. Its Newark, New Jersey, facility, which opened in 1951 and serves as the second-oldest in the company's portfolio after the flagship site in St. Louis from 1850, will close early next year and be sold to property developer Goodman Group. The buyer plans to repurpose the 1.7 million-square-foot complex, located across from Newark Liberty International Airport, for industrial and logistics operations. Production from all three sites will shift to the company's other U.S. facilities, leaving Anheuser-Busch with nine active breweries nationwide.

The moves stem from a five-year strategy to update aging infrastructure and optimize logistics, according to company statements. Over the past five years, Anheuser-Busch has invested nearly $2 billion across its more than 100 U.S. facilities to...