Meyer Kahn’s personal farewell to SAB

Who was the practical joker who uploaded this video on Youtube on 6 October 2016 – the day SABMiller was taken off the stock exchange following its takeover by AB-InBev?

It records a private speech by SABMiller’s former Chairman Meyer Kahn, 77, given to a group of “SAB bulls” as they bid a very special adieu to the South African brewer earlier this year.

Watching Meyer Kahn you can get an idea why he inspired such loyalty and why, together with the late Graham Mackay, SABMiller’s former CEO and Jamie Wilson, its former CFO, they would not have been browbeaten by their major shareholders into selling the company they so arduously had built.

As he says, had he still been in the saddle, he would have fought this deal with his whole being “because we did not build SAB to see it chopped off”.

Clear-sighted as always, Meyer Kahn said that the major shareholders have done a deal and that time will tell if it was a good deal for them. As to their motives – he would only say that “blood is thicker than water and money is thicker than blood.”

It’s a momentous speech, both funny and moving at the same time, given by one who was a literal boardroom heavyweight in his time. They don’t make them like this any longer.

You can watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi0Tcx_vSLk