Which Global Companies Have Rejected Anti-DEI Proposals?
DEI has been one of the acronyms of 2025, driven by President Donald Trump’s desire to eradicate it from US businesses, schools and other public spaces.
The campaign has been given added impetus by the National Center for Public Policy Research – a conservative think tank that has put the eradication of diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the heart of its mission.
NCPPR has tabled ‘stop DEI policies’ motions at the annual general meetings of numerous global companies, forcing a shareholder vote.
Here are the results from 32 US-based firms.
About the National Center for Public Policy Research
Shareholder activists with the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP) have led the flurry of motions placed before shareholders at companies including Best Buy, Target and American Airlines.
The NCPPR, founded in 1982, calls itself a “non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank”.
Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations.
It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from 60,000 active recent contributors.
FEP markets itself as “the original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life”.
Its purpose is to “push corporations to respect their fiduciary obligations and to stay out of political and social engineering”.
What is the corporate DEI direction of travel?
While many US companies have watered down or scrapped DEI policies, recent evidence suggests that it is more about publicly aligning with the US government than fully rolling back DEI.
Only last week, Shareholders at Walmart and Netflix voted overwhelmingly to reject NCPPR proposals.
The same occurred with votes at Apple, Amazon, John Deere and Goldman Sachs.
The Apple vote, which saw 97% of shareholders reject anti-DEI proposals, quickly escalated in a political storm.
Following the vote, President Trump was vocal in his criticism of the tech giant.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, he said: “Apple should get rid of DEI rules, not just make amendments to them. DEI was a hoax that has been very bad for our country. DEI is gone!”
Following the meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the company’s position, but acknowledged that things may have to change depending on the nature of any future legal challenges and federal policies.
"As the legal landscape around this issue evolves, we may need to make some changes to comply, but our north star of dignity and respect for everyone and our work to that end will never waver," he said.
“We’ll continue to work together to create a culture of belonging where everyone can do their best work.”
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