Activist investor Vivek Ramaswamy, who via Strive Asset Management has been a sharp critic of so-called environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is urging Apple and Disney to abstain from engaging in political discussions and stop making employment decisions while taking an individual’s race, sex, and/or political opinions into account.
Strive Asset Management’s STRV is a passively managed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that seeks broad market exposure to 500 of the largest US publicly traded stocks. Apple (AAPL) is the fund’s current top holding.
Allison Prang for The Wall Street Journal:
Ramaswamy, who recently launched Strive Asset Management, said Disney should no longer take public positions on political issues that aren’t related to the company’s core business. The letter cited how Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek took a stance on Florida’s parental rights in education bill.
“Disney must act now,” Mr. Ramaswamy wrote in his letter, dated Monday. “If Disney continues speaking out on political issues that do not affect its business, it will face even greater pressure to act when they do. And the sides Disney will be expected to take won’t be the ones that are favorable to its business.”
In a separate letter to Apple, Mr. Ramaswamy pushed back on the company’s plans to conduct a racial-equity audit and asked the tech giant to make all hiring decisions without taking into account political beliefs, race, or sex.
Mr. Ramaswamy is the author of “Woke Inc.,” a book that argues companies shouldn’t be swayed by politics. Strive Management’s main fund, focused on energy, has $320 million in assets.
MacDailyNews Take: Amen.
Getting the absolute best people should remain Apple’s ultimate goal. Forced diversity carries its own set of problems. Would the group be comprised of the best-qualifed people possible or would it be designed to hit pre-defined quotas? Would some employees, consciously or unconsciously, consider certain employees, or even themselves, to be tokens meant to fill a quota? That would be a suboptimal result for Apple and everyone involved.
The best and desired outcome is for the quest for diversity to work in Apple’s favor. Truly looking at qualified people from a larger pool would likely result in delivering different viewpoints and new ways of looking at things and tackling problems than a more homogenized workforce would likely be capable of delivering.
Regardless and of course, someday it sure would be nice for everyone to just be able to evaluate a person’s potential, not measuring and tabulating superficial, meaningless things like skin color and gender.
How do we ever get to the point where people “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” when we insist on judging people by the color of their skin? — MacDailyNews, December 31, 2015
Some people have said that I shouldn’t get involved politically because probably half our customers are Republicans… so I’m going to just stay away from all that political stuff. — Apple CEO Steve Jobs, August 25, 2004
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Well stated.
Regardless of how self-righteous and virtuous a business portrays itself, if it stops making money, it soon stops existing.
I look forward to Apple getting a new CEO as soon as possible.
Racism: Defining people by the color of their skin.
Sexism: Defining people by their gender.
Sexualism: Defining people by their sexual orientation.
Anyone who uses the above criteria to hire or for any other reason are, by definition, racists, sexists, and sexualists.
Those of us who’d like to live up to Dr. Martin Luther King’s words below are prevented, in some cases by law, from doing so by leftist socialists like Cook, etc.
I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. — Dr. Martin Luther King
We should see people as people and not judge them based on skin color, gender, and/or sexual orientation.
Leftist socialists (most Democrats) prevent us from doing so and instead legislate and otherwise sow division (note how “racist” is basically every other word out of the mouths of Democrat politicians) because division prompts votes from certain quarters for those who want to make it look like they’re “doing something” when they’re actually the ones causing the problems (for their own benefit).
And the rest of us look forward to “First Then” opening his mind to new ideas instead of just spouting off the same, tired, right wing rhetoric over and over.
Go ahead an insult me Mr Then, but as I am out of the country broadening my horizons with spotty internet for the most part, I likely won’t see it.
No need to insult idiots and morons that purposely DECEIVE others with a click bait screen name, then admit it and brag online on how smart you are, yeah right. Besides, when you post its more than OBVIOUS to everyone.
“Broaden horizons?” “(no rhetoric here)” Whoa. Talk about a legend in his own mind…
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Whenever diversity or equity policies are implemented, someone is ALWAYS treated less fairly. There is absolutely no exception.
Imagine a race, Bob is fastest and in pursuit of “fairness,” race organizers enable Ken to whack Bob in the shins to hamper his pace. There’s no hyperbole here…some will be in fact, debilitated.
It is a mindset where success & progress are perceived as exploitive and activating as governor on one person’s success for another person’s progress is seen as a solution.
Sure to trigger some, this is at the core of all woke-ist, state-ist and leftist ideology. It’s the foundation of Marxism. How curtailing human flourishing–in this way–is good, is simply befuddling…unless one–step-forward and two-back, has appeal.
In addition, ESG, like many atrocities, may sound attractive on the surface, but it will be tragic in many dimensions. No person, no centralized org/system could ever manage these sectors to the benefit of all affected…unless the CCP methods have appeal.
“ Whenever diversity or equity policies are implemented, someone is ALWAYS treated less fairly. There is absolutely no exception.”
So, the office a$$hole, bullying, discriminating, making sexist derogatory remarks and continually disrupting office harmony and efficiency, is being treated ‘unfairly’ by being required to accede to acceptable social norms?
So Apple, whose success is arguably attributable to its promotion of core values aka “the intersection of technology and the liberal arts” should be enjoined to desist because it’s ‘unfair’ to its detractors?
So Apple is being unfair by making political statements that contradict whatever bunch of lunatic politicians currently in power try to impose, that threatens its business?
You have it backwards.
I actually think differently. 😊
It’s great that companies like Apple lead the way when it comes to those social and ecological issues.
My heart and the earth are happy when more recuperated materials are used, when positive discrimination gives disadvantaged people a fair chance to show their talents.
I was a Steve Jobs fan, and I’m also a Tim Cook fan.
“Positive discrimination?”
You’re a fsking moron. Don’t vote. Don’t reproduce.
… great companies like Apple ? If by great you mean making an insane amount of profit by enabling and partnering with a criminal state that uses slave labor, systemic ethic genocide, and organ harvesting for profit then Apple is great. Its so amazing how apple is awarded a social leader for helping “disadvantage people” but in reality Apple has profited and funded the greatest slave labor enterprise in the history of the world. All the time pretending to be social leaders and wagging their fingers and Americans at home.
My heart is sad and the earth cries for the death and destruction at the hands of the CCP.
Steve was wise enough to avoid politics, Cook isn’t and it lowers profit but that fact is not apparent,,,,yet. I’ve definitely reduced my purchases.
Gary: Not only are you a “middle-of-the-roader moron” you are wishy-washy. And you know what “they” say”: if you don’t stand for something (in this case fairness based on merit and achievement) then you don’t stand for anything. So, get out of the middle of the road, or get run over.
The Democrat Socialists and Marxists are leading the way. Cook and Disney are TOOLS buying into the new age age religion of redefining DESCRIMINATION, SEXISM and RACISM when it does not meet their goal. I can’t tell who the bigger fool is, you or Apple/Disney…
While I respect your right to have an opinion and ‘think differently’, I would like to understand what you’re referring to when you reference “positive discrimination”?
You can state, “gives disadvantaged people a fair chance”. But do you see that it also gives others an unfair chance?
Do you not recognize that when companies hire employees based on their sex/color/sexual orientation over their skills/talents/experience, the workforce is weakened? We’ve seen this in our colleges and universities that prioritized quotas over qualifications and as a result have had to ‘dumb down’ curriculums and eliminate grading standards to graduate students who enter the workforce touting a college degree but cannot communicate with proper grammar.
We’re weakening our country. While China focuses on math and science, we’re focused on the color of people’s skin and what they identify as. While we hamper innovation and growth to satisfy The Green New Sham, China is over there manufacturing their asses off.
“Think Different” meant looking for new solutions for technology. That mantra is misrepresented when you use it in reference to social or eco issues.
I can see where there could be certain cases (e.g. design/testing departments) that may have an advantage when given a ‘quota’ of diversity-related hiring that may give insight into features/usage that may not come up otherwise, but in general I agree that such hiring would disadvantage those better skilled for positions.
“given a ‘quota’ of diversity-related hiring”
@Xennex1170 just clearly defined the problem in his own words…
Back in college, I was a student worker at the Lab School. (Basically K-12 administered by the College of Education). The school was set up to be representative of the population of Hawaii so the student body as a whole needed to have quotas on the number of each ethnic group being represented in proportion to the most recent census figures.
the only way to correct the effects of historic racism is to enact racist practices today. Just like the only way to correct historical hunger is to starve people today. If you people could follow logic you would see it makes sense. You don’t fight fire with water, you fight fire with gasoline, then you burn everything down till there is nothing left; problem solved.
Im waiting for Disney to change its name and remove all traces for Walt Disney from their company, parks and entertainment. By Disney’s current woke standards Walt Disney needs to be canceled and scrubbed from all traces of history. Our maybe they could reimagine Walt and make him a different ethnicity and gender. It wouldn’t be that hard to replace all of Walts image, voice and likeness with CGI digital doubles and face replacements.
Hiring based on skin color, sex, sexual orientation is what gets you utter incompetents such as Kamala Harris and Karine Jean-Pierre.
What an incredible lousy bunch of crazy ass rightwing racist misogynist nutjobs living here in the comments! Grow the F up. It’s 2022, not 1955.
You scream bloody hell about the right to have your own opinion, yet scream twice as loud to the point of bursting a blood vessel when others are allowed to have opinions that you disagree with.
Learn to respect others. It will help you grow from children to men.
“lousy bunch of crazy ass rightwing racist misogynist nutjobs”
Does Your Mother know what you wrote? At least we’re not HYPOCRITES…
We didn’t say he can’t have his “questionably” opinion, and we didn’t cancel or delete his account because he said crazy shit about being a good racist. But we did offer our own opinions in response. It’s called the market place of ideas. Your just butt hurt because someone dared to question a low resolution idea that makes up the fake religion you cherish so much. The left gets its baby feelings hurt anytime someone challenges or disagrees with their weak minded illogical feelings. I bet your real fun at a party.
It’s 2022 not 1999 and Weak minded child men dare not jump in the intellectual ring with seasoned cage warriors and hardened street fighters unless they enjoy getting their arguments crushed. Evident by the fact a toothless, name calling, hurt feelings rebuttal was served by his mother is all that needs to be said.
Mom, you gave no solid explanation to your objections. With dad in prison, what’s going to happen to me if I continue to grow up with no real guidance from you? Please help me think through things.
Sadly we have a couple of token whacktoids here at MDN – two Apple “nuts” of the crazy kind, AppleBS and AppleCynic.
Both are too dumb to move to tech they don’t hate, both are too dumb to stop supporting the company they despise, both are just too dumb, too diverse, and because they are numbnuts, they are just… meh. On steroids.
Has anyone making comments actually listened to Vickery Ramaswamy or read his books? His points against ESG investing by a handful of behind the scenes players are very valid and very thought provoking. His basic point is the players like Blackrock and CalPERS are forcing companies like Apple not to maintain their fiduciary responsibilities to the individual investors. Strongly suggest everyone listen to one of his interviews.
How about asking Google to do the same? How about we cancel Google and Android are for the low class.