The Death of an Empire - AB sold for $52 Billion to InBev

I'm sorry, $52 Billion is not just a big figure, but a large enough figure where you start forgetting where the zeros stop. Anheuser-Busch just became the latest big St. Louis name to be purchased by a rival in recent years. The impact on the local economy of those mergers has been mixed.

2007 — A.G. Edwards is purchased for $6.8 billion by Wachovia Bank, of Charlotte, N.C. The bank now headquarters its securities division here and moved some functions to St. Louis from Richmond, Va., though other jobs were eliminated.

2005 — May Department Stores is bought for $11 billion by Cincinnati-based Federated (now Macy's). Macy's recently announced it will close its regional headquarters in St. Louis, shedding nearly 800 jobs.

2001 — Ralston Purina is purchased for $11.2 billion by Swiss food-maker Nestle S.A. The company continues to house its Pet food division at the old Ralston facilities in St. Louis.

2001 — A near-bankrupt TWA is bought by American Airlines for $3.5 billion. American retains a secondary hub in St. Louis, but has cut hundreds of flights and thousands of jobs here since the merger.

1997 — McDonnell Douglas reaches a $13.3 billion deal to be purchased by Seattle-based Boeing Co. The company's massive defense unit is now based here, but employment has fallen as manufacturing has slowed down and a plant sold off. Still, Boeing remains the region's second-biggest private employer.

Next to go - St. Louis Rams (see Seattle Sonics), Boeing, AT&T

Changing mix of leading employers

While the list of the region's 15 largest private employers hasn't changed dramatically over the last decade, it now contains fewer publicly held St. Louis-based companies and is more concentrated in health care, education and retail.

2007
1. BJC Healthcare 23,500
2. Boeing Co. 15,577
3. Washington University 12,694
4. SSM Health Care 12,204
5. Wal-Mart Stores Co. 10,500
6. Schnuck Markets Inc. 10,500
7. AT&T 10,000
8. St. John's Mercy HealthCare 9,288
9. St. Louis University 8,434
10. McDonald's Corp. 7,500
11. Anheuser-Busch Cos. 6,000
12. Walgreens 5,725
13. Macy's 5,400
14. Edward Jones 4,712
15. Dierbergs Markets 4,600

1997
1. BJC HealthSystem 25,500 - Still #1, one of the few growing industries left.
2. Boeing Co. 22,800 - Never know with government contracts how long the jobs will be there.
3. Unity/Mercy Health Sys. 14,447 - Couldn't compete with BJC.
4. Schnuck Markets Inc. 12,200 - Still hanging tough, won the supermarket war versus Dierbergs/Nationals.
5. McDonald's Corp. 10,700 - One of the fattest states in the union, Super size me.
6. SSM Health Care System 9,700
7. Washington University 9,353 - Tuition is up to 40k, not going anywhere.
8. Trans World Airlines 9,000 - Now America and reduced to a hub.
9. SBC Communications Inc. 8,863 - Now AT&T.
10. May Department Stores 7,800 - Now Macys and cutting jobs.
11. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 7,750
12. Chrysler Corp. 7,662 - Cutting the jobs as of 2009.
13. Tenet Healthcare Corp. 7,504
14. St. Louis University 6,638 - Tuition is up to 30k, not going anywhere.
15. Anheuser-Busch Cos. 5,400