A Costco shareholder proposal that would have been a nothingburger just a few years ago made waves recently when the company asked voters to reject it.
Submitted by a conservative think tank called the National Center for Policy Policy Research, the anti-DEI proposition argued that the company should publish a report on the risks of maintaining its current DEI “roles, policies, and goals.” “It’s clear that DEI holds litigation, reputational, and financial risks to the Company, and therefore financial risks to shareholders,” the NCPPR wrote.
These kinds of proposals are common in the corporate world, and come about when a group of investors buy a stake in a company to ask for a specific change. Shareholder votes aren’t binding, but they are influential, and anti-DEI resolutions in particular have become increasingly popular, as a vocal number of people and groups openly advocate against diversity and inclusion initiatives in the business world.
Costco voters handily voted down the anti-DEI proposal by a margin of 98%, but there are many more similar proposals on the horizon this year
Although they were once the province of corporate insiders and proxy statement nerds, these votes have turned into a new front in the ongoing battle over DEI in corporate America, writes my colleague Lila MacLellan. As companies are forced to decide whether to stand by their diversity initiatives or walk away, these proposals—and how companies respond—provide insight into where corporate DEI programs are headed.
You can read the full list of anti-DEI shareholder proposals set to be presented this year here.
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