On Tuesday, February 25, 2025, Apple shareholders turned down a suggestion to scrap the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The push to ditch DEI came from the National Center for Public Policy Research which urged Apple to join the ranks of other big firms that have stepped away from such programs.
“DEI poses litigation, reputational and financial risks to companies, and therefore financial risks to their shareholders, and therefore further risks to companies for not abiding by their fiduciary duties,” according to the proposal offered by the group.
“The risks to Apple stemming from continuing to push these divisive and value-destroying agendas is only increasing in light of President Trump’s recent executive order focusing the Department of Justice on rooting out illegal discrimination being carried out in the name of DEI,” Stephen Padfield, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project, said in a prerecorded statement played to shareholders on Tuesday. “The vibe shift is clear, DEI is out and annual merit is in,” Padfield said.
“We’ve never had quotas or targets for Apple. Our strength has always come from hiring the very best people and then providing a culture of collaboration,” Apple CEO Tim Cook stated during the meeting’s question-and-answer period. “As the legal landscape around these issues evolves, we may need to make some changes to comply.”
[The DEI] trend has unraveled of late, with technology titan Google and discount store chain Target joining Walmart and other corporations in scaling back their diversity initiatives under pressure from conservative activists emboldened by court rulings and by President Trump, who has banned DEI programs across the federal government.
MacDailyNews Note: As usual, shareholders followed Apple’s BoD’s recommendations on this year’s proposals.
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And the slow drip of talented folks continue to leave Apple. Unable to be promoted and asked to train their boss, many leaders are just quitting. But, it feels good to check a box, huh Apple. Apple and other DEI obsessed companies absolutely prioritize the characteristics of applicants over their skills and experience. Anybody who works for Apple or these other companies sees it. The person who’s promoted because they check two boxes, who struggles to lead the team, makes poor decisions, and is eventually replaced by another and then sues the company for letting them go.
“Show me an incentive and I’ll show you the outcome”. Charlie Munger; the once long-term biz partner of W Buffett.
Let merit be the decider and people will rise to be the best. Excellence becomes the outcome.
DEI has no such incentive. While someone everywhere will be internally motivated to excel, standards, requirements and and achievement frame merit-based systems, but it’s too inconsiderate, cruel and exclusionary for the DEI mindset. The outcome; less excellence that could have been seen.
Though extreme, there are a number of recent reports with airline failures and the documented hiring “standards” and the “diversity goals.” Take your pic to be serviced by a DEI pilot, or a merit based pilot.
Trump makes everything to change the minds AND the laws for him to play his own gross games, but he just won’t be winner everywhere!
There are still free people around this land!
Gross games…as in meritocracy?
DEI is just nazi left code for racist as f*** leftists that want to be anti-asian and anti-white. Apple needs to fire 90% of its employees at they’ve all become these do less-than-nothing parasite bozos sapping the company of its innovation and productivity.
NeXT’s 50 or so big ball employees came in with steve jobs and saved apple’s garbage tens of thousands of loser employees, and developed and technology that turned apple into the largest, richest and most successful company on the planet.
However, people forget that Steve Jobs was famous for firing huge numbers of loser employees in his famous bozo purges:
https://www.cultofmac.com/news/today-in-apple-history-apple-layoffs-clear-the-bozo-explosion
Tim Cook is too much of a woke loser to do what is needed. Fire 90% of apple employees, free it from its bozo cruft, and let it roar into a new era of productivity and innovation that is being stifled by the barnacle bozo losers. Just like your operating system develops cruft over the years and upgrades that slow and degrade your operating system and requires a fresh nuke and pave re-install of a fresh copy of the OS, Steve’s bozo purges did that for apple the corporation, and it desperately needs a reset like that.
All apple shareholders need to vote to kill apple’s deplorable and racist AF DEI bs.
DEI must DIE DIE DIE
You are referring to 1981, which is 44 years ago, and 3 years before Apple unveiled the very first Macintosh… You are a zombie, indeed.
He is legend for firing bs losers like you. He laid waste to entire boo-hooing bozo losers like you crying about opendoc and cyberdog and other loser projects when he came back and took over apple in 96.
And much like trump, when he was back in charge, he went through department by deperatment asking ‘what do you do here, what have you accomplished’ and nuked entire divisions and also random bozos like you in elevators when they couldnt answer simple questions like ‘what do you do here’.
50 big ball ex-NeXTers saved apple from oblivion and nuked all the bozo cruft apple losers when they came back. That’s the history you hate knowing is true because it shows how worthless you and your ilk are.
You got nothing but your mediocrity and your bs veiled racism. Suck some more DEI bozo, and cry me more of your leftist nazi tears, bozo.
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” S Jobs
Not sure when spoken (’81 or?), but it matters little as Steve never dropped his excellence propensity. It likely increased…esp when he got a 2nd chance at Apple and later stared death straight on.
How in the h can one imagine this quote would be paraded in front of a DEI driven entity–where the main focus is contributing and finding one’s place? Of value? Yes, but more the mindset for a club, or support group.
MEI (Merit, Excellence and Intelligence). Very cruel b/c some have each in greater amounts than others and it hurts to realize one is in “2nd place”.
DEI; we’re ok to compromise per excellence, b/c our concern is your well-being and orchestrating “fairness.”
Exactly the opposite, my “dear” (poor): Facism is ALWAYS on the right side of a society: the narrow-minded extremists with their bu…it nationalism and their “God on our side” thing.
Try again loser. Nazis were social democrats. National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
I’d ask you to learn your history but I know things like facts wont penetrate the thick racist skulls of retard leftists.
If Apple had a string of successes rather than failures under its belt since it implemented DEI, they might be able to make a case that DEI is not harmful, but as it stands, they’re continuing with what obviously does not work. There is no cure for the leftwing mind virus. Sad.
I invite anyone who abhors DEI to name all of the DEI hires who are unqualified to work at Apple. Then, describe how the hiring of said individuals has ruined one of the wealthiest companies in the world.
Furthermore, the last time Apple was on the verge of collapse, they ran through a series of failed CEO’s (John Sculley, Michael Spindler, Gil Amelio) before re-hiring Steve Jobs. Someone, please remind what DEI demographic these failed CEO’s were a part of. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Kind of a ridiculous “test.”
Answer honestly; is a better product/outcome more likely to emerge from an enviro where excellence is the bar, or satisfying a “fairness” bar?
That’s the real question per the 2nd sentence. Maybe they didn’t “ruin” the company, but maybe the company would have been more successful (invention and innovation) if DEI didn’t reign?
Last question…again silly. One could say, DEI wasn’t the gauge, as firing so many would have been seen as mean, or intolerant? Men? So what. Consistent with 95% of corporate realm. Maybe the firings were related to stupidity? There’s a reason to think, success in the past could translate to success in a new biz (Sculley)? AAPL was pursing a more successful Wall St position.
Mixing and matching unrelated, speculative and confused…Bueller.
Past time for Tim Cook to go….
Progressives are so stupid they can’t grasp they subscribe to an ideology that ruins life.
Nowadays, it is Trump’s job to destroy lives for more $$$$$$$!
Oh! And, by the way, Trumpica (once America) will soon be russian. So, it ain’t such a loss anyway.
DEI is racist, sexist, discriminatory, unfair and results in the best not being hired. Long range, it merit hostile and shareholder value hostile.
Once again the far right extremist cranks lose. Every shareholder meeting some cranky guy complains about some weird stuff that no one understands. When put to a vote their goofy ideas always lose.
If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning
I hammer in the evening, all over this world ….