A little more than a year after we introduced the FOX 50, it’s time for some changes.

Say hello to Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Wells Fargo (WFC), say goodbye to Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and Merrill Lynch (MER).

The reason for Bud and Merrill coming out is simple: both are being acquired, and not without some drama for either. Bud and the Busch family originally balked at taking the offer from European brewer InBev, but in the end took the money. Merrill took a deal from Bank of America at the nadir of the financial crisis, when there were serious questions as to whether any of the vaunted Wall Street names could survive.

While the entire FOX 50 has suffered during the market’s recent slide – the FOX 50 is off 30.1% this year, compared with a 34.6% drop for the S&P 500 – none of its components has collapsed. Names like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Wachovia and American International Group were all eligible for inclusion in the FOX 50, but never made the final cut.

Remember the criteria for inclusion in the FOX 50: the biggest American companies with strong consumer brands. As such, Hewlett-Packard and Wells Fargo fit the bill nicely. Hewlett-Packard is not only one of the best-known technology brands, but it’s also part of the American entrepreneurial fabric. Indeed, the garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard first collaborated, is designated as a national historic landmark.

Wells Fargo is one of the oldest banking brands in the nation – not many banks have songs in Broadway musicals named after them: “The J.P. Morgan Chase & Company Wagon” would never have the same ring for The Music Man – but it is also a growing one, as evidenced by its bold move to acquire Wachovia out from under Citigroup. Since it was acquired in 1998 by Norwest (which took the Wells Fargo name), it has made a habit of growing by acquisitions, and Wachovia’s reach will give it an even bigger presence in the East.

A complete list of FOX 50 members is below:

3M

Amazon.com Inc.

American Express Co.

Apple Inc.

AT&T Inc.

Bank of America Corp.

Best Buy Co.

Boeing Co.

CBS Corp.

Charles Schwab Corp.

Chevron Corp.

Citigroup Inc.

Coca-Cola Co.

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Comcast Corp.

Costco Wholesale Corp.

Deere & Co.

Dell Inc.

eBay Inc.

ExxonMobil Corp.

FedEx Corp.

General Electric Co.

General Mills Inc.

Google Inc.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

Home Depot Inc.

Intel Corp.

IBM

Johnson & Johnson

Kraft Foods Inc.

Lowe’s Cos.

McDonald’s Corp.

Merck & Co.

Microsoft Corp.

Nike Inc.

PepsiCo Inc.

Procter & Gamble Co.

Prudential Financial Inc.

Sprint Nextel Corp.

Starbucks Corp.

Target Corp.

Time Warner Inc.

United Parcel Service Inc.

Verizon Communications Inc.

Viacom Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Walt Disney Co.

Wells Fargo & Co.

Yahoo! Inc.