In a significant corporate governance moment, Apple investors are gearing up for an upcoming vote at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on February 25, 2025, where they will have the chance to influence the tech giant’s stance on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. This vote is prompted by a shareholder proposal from the conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR).
The NCPPR has proposed that Apple consider abolishing its “Inclusion & Diversity program, policies, department, and goals,” arguing that these initiatives expose the company to “litigation, reputational, and financial risks.” This proposal reflects a broader cultural and political backlash against DEI programs, especially in light of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, like those affecting affirmative action in university admissions, which have invigorated discussions around these corporate practices.
Apple’s board is recommending shareholders vote against the proposal.
The debate surrounding DEI in Apple, and by extension in many corporations, is multifaceted:
Critics suggest that DEI policies might inadvertently lead to reverse discrimination, where hiring and promotion practices could be perceived as favoring certain groups over others based on race, gender, or other identity markers. They also express concerns over potential legal challenges, citing the evolving legal landscape around affirmative action and workplace diversity.
This vote at Apple isn’t occurring in isolation. Other major companies, like Google, Meta, McDonald’s, Target, Amazon, Ford, John Deere, Walmart, and others have either scaled back or entirely dismantled their DEI programs, reflecting a broader industry shift or reconsideration of these initiatives in the current political climate.
The outcome of this vote could set a precedent for how companies navigate DEI in the future. An approval to scrap Apple’s DEI policies could spur similar movements within even more corporations, potentially reshaping corporate America’s approach to DEI. On the other hand, a rejection might reinforce the commitment of companies to these programs, despite the legal and political pressures.
MacDailyNews Take: Again:
Making hiring decisions based on skin color is, by definition, racist. – MacDailyNews, July 14, 2023
Just as making hiring decisions based on sex is, by definition, sexist.
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
See also:
• Apple on the losing side as Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action in college admissions – June 29, 2023
• Several U.S. state attorneys general threaten legal action over Apple, others’ ‘diversity’ policies – July 14, 2023
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DUMB AS HELL!
how about apple stockholders vote on who their customers should be?
apple shareholders may as well be on voting whether their only customers are white males?
may as well, seems like.
So the CEO is a, gay guy, they, the stockholders, surely don’t want to include this type of person working at apple.
TIM GIVE US A LARGER DIVIDEND! is the problem the Asians, the Indians, the Hispanics, it surely can’t be the 20 Black people you have working there, oh oh, it’s the white women. I should have guessed that first, being that the CEO loves men.
what the hell? apple,you should, on you own, demand for yourself that your workforce be diverse, inclusive, and fair. Equity, fair pay. do you not know how diverse you customer base is? so damn, you want the stockholders to tell you that apple should have an all white american male workforce? hell, if it were up to me Tim I would terminate your employment. do you have any idea the backlash from this horse crap idea. oh make no mistake I want to use a different word than crap.
as part owners of the company, stop giving our money away and give it to us. hell these executives are making to much money relative to the dividend paid. well, I forget, Tim was raised in Alabama. Deep South. so this must be very important to him. so, what, apple is going to fire the white women, the Asians, the Hispanics, the Indians, etc. oh, yeah, of course, the 20 black people, that’s it, depending on the outcome of the vote. Deep South in that boy’s blood. why the hell else would this come up? trump… damn! you talk about a rotten apple spoiling the bunch. can you imagine the world reading that apple’s owners are racist. and, with these deportation going on. and I truly am not a fan of Samsung but …
That post is confusing. 🫤
That may be the single most dumb and confusing post ever made on here.
Vote racist as F*** DEI the f’ out. DEI must DIE DIE DIE
Merit was the only thing that mattered to Steve Jobs. One of tim cook’s many short comings in he is not recruiting the best. He’s recruiting by racist faux virtue signaling instead of by merit.
If Apple ends up 99% asian as a result, GREAT. Merit is what counts. That the NBA is predominantly black, that’s great, it’s by merit.
It is all that counts. The rest is cover for racist virtue signaling.
DEI is racist communism and DEI must DIE DIE DIE!
If you own any apple stock make sure to vote to kill DEI at apple!
Steve Jobs himself could not get a job at apple based on any merit metric. you are so full of it with this merit crap. Two college drop outs Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The merit would show up how for those two?
Yea, not only could he, he did. When he came back it was on merit of what he did at NeXTstep over BeOS. Try again loser.
Merit at Next? What the!? Next was a failing company. Are you trying to rewrite history? Even jobs understood that as he transition from a hardware company to software company. Jobs was desperate to save next. so, the thought is, be fired, start a company, have it fail, get rehired by the company you started and that’s merit based hiring to you. lol Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk are right, Americans aren’t too smart. I see why they want engineers from other parts of the world. good grief guy. Jobs was an admitted hippie, not a scholar. Get over this merit foolishness. Do you know the guy that started dupont barely got out of college. How do you explain so many multimillionaires with no formal education. Merit based please. Just sounds like more racist sexist homophobic code words to keep people out. why? Simple, a gpa being low or hi seems to have little to do with Business success. Hey and I’m for you being as smart as you want to be. That said, some of the best ideas come from those that don’t know it can’t be done. Jobs called those people dreamers.
Yea merit. The OS youre using on the Mac today is NeXT step.
Thanks for confirming to the world your ignorance, not that it was ever doubted.
But Steve Jobs didn’t need to get hired as a college drop-out… he created the company… the ULTIMATE merit-based success.
And later, the college drop-out WAS hired by Apple, when they bought out NeXT.
Merit has zero to do with what college someone attended. That’s actually lack of merit.
In the business world merit is mainly what results someone achieved. That’s why Elon Musk, arguably the greatest business leader in world history, picked some teenage hackers to audit the US government.
Most business leaders start out at not great undergrad schools. Steve Jobs had a track record of starting up companies, taking them public, sold the Next intellectual property to Apple for their OS, took Pixar public… that’s merit.
You just cannot fix STUPID
Instate; Merit, Excellence & Intelligence
The company can’t go wrong.
This proposal is another tired effort by the far right extremists to jump to the head of the line. This will fail, as have previous efforts along these lines. I’ve already voted all my shares NO on this proposal.
The people supporting this think that simply because you are a minority or a woman that you can get a job at Apple ahead of a more qualified individual? I don’t think so. The point is that everyone is welcome to apply and that we don’t exclude people with talent simply because they don’t belong to a favored group.
Where/how/when can I make my vote??
MDN did not give that info.
If you have stock at a brokerage site, many of them have a shareholder tab that lets you electronically vote your shares.
Also, they often mail you a proxy vote statement with a unique number and a web URL, many places use http://www.proxyvote.com but it would be printed on your mailed proxy ballot
Cry more you bitch ass racist piece of s***. Cry more. Despair you DEI motherF’er despair.
Delicious.
If lefties believe that DEI must exist in order for minorities to get jobs… doesn’t that mean THEY are the racists, because they feel that minorities can’t possibly get the job, unless they help them?
In any case, I would usually rather that the best people be Hired regardless of race, religion, gender, etc. It likely means better products. HOWEVER, in a company like Apple, I can see where diversity helps, as it will help them to sell the right products to varying groups.
DEI empowers the abusers and patronize the dignified.
Its as Shameful of a policy as anything can be… and DESTRUCTIVE!
DEI= Did’nt Earn It!
How do I vote? Provide a link or something …
If you have stock at a brokerage site, many of them have a shareholder tab that lets you electronically vote your shares.
Also, they often mail you a proxy vote statement with a unique number and a web URL, many places use http://www.proxyvote.com but it would be printed on your mailed proxy ballot
don’t understand the take. Why the hate towards Partiful, what have they done wrong other than creating a great app that now gets Sherlocked?
Abaya Hjiab Avenue
I did vote against DEI. I also voted against all Board of Directors and I voted for to get rid of Tim Cook Apple Watch straightened out big-time. We got somebody with a vision who wasn’t mentally ill.
Note to Stockholders:
1. Because of Apple’s incredibly high visibility, voting against DEI would have a devastating effect on Apple’s customer base. Apple’s customers are perhaps as diverse a group as any in the world.
DEI is not a rigid set of dictums that are hardened in law. They are guidelines. Therefore, rather than cause a revolution amongst its customers, Apple could simply follow the mood of the country and merely “round the corners” of DEI softly and gradually.
Shut up you racist commie piece of s***. Shove your woke racist as f DEI up your and the left’s posterior. Apple would be 90+% asian without its racist as f DEI racism. I’m fine with that. I want merit. I was thrilled to vote against evil racist DEI. And Im glad to see more on here are killing DEI too.
Cry more commie losers
Wow Zombie, you have some real anger problems….seems to be a real issue with many in your country right now!!! Unfortunately, if you were better educated on what DEI is suppose to encompass (is that too big a word for you?) then you would know that it’s not about race, it’s not about gender…but rather ensuring everyone who is qualified has an opportunity to vie for jobs that until now have been unattainable.
Im here for your despair and tears you communist piece of racist DEI s***.
You didnt disappoint.
Despair motherF’er despair.