Serial entrepreneur Shawn Meaike speculates how President Trump’s DEI crackdowns could impact businesses in the private sector in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives will continue at Apple following a failed shareholder vote to nix the respective programs.
On Tuesday, shareholders resoundingly rejected an attempt to scrap DEI initiatives at the tech behemoth.
During the meeting, Stefan Padfield, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP), claimed DEI “routinely discriminates on the basis of race, sex, and other demographic categories,” calling said programs “illegal and immoral.”
“The vibe shift is clear. DEI is out. America is in,” he said, referencing President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on diversity programs.
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A vote to analyze and evaluate Apple’s “charitable givings” to progressive groups also failed to pass.
Last week, Apple’s board asked shareholders to vote “no” on proposals criticizing the company’s contributions to progressive groups and calling on the tech corporation to end its implementation of DEI.
Fox News Digital previously analyzed the “Notice of 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders,” highlighting two proposals from Apple shareholders that would have brought substantial change to the company.
A proposal to abolish DEI at Apple failed to pass on Tuesday following a vote by shareholders. (Getty Images/iStock / Getty Images)
Proposal 6, initially proposed by the National Center for Public Policy Research, suggested that these practices pose “obvious risks” and that the company’s omission of “equity” from program titles is “meaningless” since it still expresses multiple explicit commitments to “equity.”
The shareholder also claimed that Apple’s policies are consistent with, “if not more radical than” most corporate DEI programs.
The proposal highlighted Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Zoom, just a handful of companies that have rolled back DEI efforts. The shareholder said these programs pose “litigation, reputational, and financial risks.”
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 247.10 | +1.55 | +0.63% |
The National Center for Public Policy and Research pushed a similar measure last month during Costco’s annual meeting. The proposal was rejected.
Meanwhile, Proposal 7, entered by Wayne Frantzen, who Inspire Investing LLC represents, criticized Apple’s contributions to progressive organizations.
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Apple Inc. signage at the company’s Fifth Avenue store in New York, US, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Shareholders request that Apple Inc. report to shareholders annually, at reasonable expense and excluding confidential information, an analysis of how Apple Inc.’s contributions impact its risks related to discrimination against individuals based on their speech or religious exercise,” the Notice of 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders states.
The proposal, in part, criticized Apple’s contributions to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which shareholders say uses its “hate map” and “hate watch” to target political and religious groups, as well as individuals. Some of their criticisms specifically target Moms for Liberty, The Family Research Council, Dr. Ben Carson and more.
The shareholder noted that many companies, including John Deere, Jack Daniel’s, Harley-Davidson, Lowes, Home Depot, Ford and Molson Coors, have already refocused charitable giving to represent “diverse views” held by their customers and employees.
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President Donald Trump (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook tour the Flextronics computer manufacturing facility where Apple’s Mac Pros are assembled in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 20, 2019. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images))
The 2024 edition of the Viewpoint Diversity Score Business found that 62% of scored companies, including Apple, support nonprofits that are influencing public policy by actively attacking free speech and religious freedom.
The Apple board recommends that shareholders vote “no” on proposals 6 and 7 during the annual shareholder meeting on Feb. 25. It stated, among other things, that the board and management maintain active oversight of legal and regulatory risks and compliance for global business.
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The board also called the two proposals “unnecessary” and inappropriate attempts to restrict Apple’s ordinary business operations.
