Early 2025 threw corporate America into a whirlwind. The new administration’s first bunch of executive orders included slashing federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, labeling them “illegal” and “immoral”. Wall Street quaked, and big names like Microsoft shuffled DEI leadership out of sight, while the likes of Walmart and Amazon followed suit, scaling back and trimming DEI references from annual reports.
But not everyone caved.
Meet the rebels
Twenty-five companies stood their ground and refused to roll back their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. When others rushed toward political convenience, these firms stopped and asked themselves a fundamental question – Does DEI deliver business value? To their credit, they answered “yes” and stuck with it, though it is worth noting that their financial performance stems from far more than just their stance on diversity programs.
Costco’s annual meeting turned into something of a diversity referendum earlier in the year, with over 98% of shareholders voting to keep DEI policies firmly in place. Their leadership framed inclusion as deeply embedded in their corporate DNA, not some trendy add-on they picked up at a management conference. Disney faced similar pressure to abandon the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, but shareholders were not having it, with only 1% voting for withdrawal, leaving the Mouse House free to continue moving forward.
Apple became perhaps the most high-profile holdout, facing down a conservative shareholder proposal that painted DEI as a litigation time bomb waiting to explode. The tech giant’s board pushed back hard, recommending shareholders vote against the proposal, which they did with gusto – 97% rejection rates do not happen by accident. Tim Cook made it clear that while Apple might need to navigate legal adjustments, their “culture of belonging” was not going anywhere, thank you very much.
These were not companies cowering behind carefully crafted PR statements. They planted their feet, rallied their shareholders, and delivered decisive votes that sent a clear message about where exactly they stood on diversity initiatives.
Numbers that tell an interesting story
Here is where things get fascinating from a pure business perspective. Apple reported record Q1 2025 revenue of $124.3 billion, jumping 4% year-over-year, while earnings per share climbed 10%. Disney, despite weathering endless cultural war skirmishes, posted $24.7 billion in quarterly revenue with a 5% increase and earnings that rocketed 35% to $1.40 per share.
Now, before anyone starts declaring causation between DEI programs and stock performance, let us pump the brakes. These companies succeed because of innovative products, smart marketing, operational excellence, and countless other factors that have absolutely nothing to do with diversity initiatives. But the numbers do suggest that maintaining DEI programs did not torpedo their financial results, which is interesting given all the dire predictions floating around corporate boardrooms about the supposed costs of staying woke.
Shareholder democracy gets messy
The most revealing part of this entire thing might be watching actual shareholders (you know, the people who own these companies) weigh in on DEI debates. When given direct votes on diversity programs, investors delivered some pretty decisive verdicts. Apple shareholders said keep it (97% against removal), Disney investors were even more emphatic (99% voted to stay in inclusion indexes), and similar patterns played out across multiple companies.
This kind of shareholder support reveals that the people with actual skin in the game, who study balance sheets and care about long-term returns, apparently see value in diversity initiatives that go beyond political posturing.
Creative resistance gets weird and wonderful
Some companies decided that merely maintaining DEI programs was not enough, and they wanted to make a point. Lush Cosmetics took the delightfully petty approach of renaming three bestselling bath bombs “Diversity,” “Equity,” and “Inclusion” in direct response to political pressure. Their website now proudly declares DEI essential for workplace justice, which is either brilliant marketing or corporate activism, depending on your perspective (probably both).
e.l.f. Beauty went full provocateur with their “So Many Dicks” campaign, highlighting the absurd gender imbalance on corporate boards by pointing out there were nearly as many Richards, Ricks, and Dicks serving as directors as women altogether. They doubled down on DEI investments while trolling the entire corporate establishment, which takes a special kind of confidence. This is a great example of companies leaning into controversy and using it as fuel for bolder statements about their values.
Why some companies held the line (and why some did not)
The companies that maintained DEI programs were making calculated business bets based on their specific circumstances without making purely ideological decisions, though ideology certainly played a role. Most operate in talent-intensive industries where diverse perspectives actually matter for innovation and market understanding. They serve global, multicultural customer bases who expect to see themselves represented, and perhaps most importantly, they have figured out that employee loyalty and retention often hinge on workers feeling valued and included.
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins put it bluntly by saying that “You cannot argue with the fact that a diverse workforce is better because there is too much business value.” Procter & Gamble framed their approach as purely strategic, calling DEI “how we win at market scale” rather than virtue signaling. When Marriott’s Anthony Capuano defended their practices publicly, 40,000 employees emailed him within 24 hours to say thanks, which suggests these companies are, in fact, responding to internal workforce needs.
On the other hand, not every boardroom chose defiance. Accenture dropped its representation targets and stopped external benchmarking, framing the decision as compliance with new regulations. Target wound down long-running programs like REACH, supplier diversity efforts, and third-party inclusion surveys. PepsiCo, Amazon, Google, McDonald’s, Salesforce, Bank of America, BlackRock, and a string of others pared back language in reports and trimmed initiatives, citing legal obligations and changing federal guidelines.
These moves were explained as practical risk management, a removal of potential flashpoints before they turned into lawsuits or shareholder battles. In a year where even the safest-seeming corporate takes come with political baggage, some companies decided the cleanest path forward was simply to make less noise.
The flip side reveals calculated risks
Pinterest’s SEC filing offered perhaps the most honest assessment of the DEI dilemma, warning that abandoning diversity initiatives could alienate talent, invite litigation, and damage its reputation. In other words, ditching DEI carried its own set of business risks that had nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with practical concerns about running a modern company.
Of course, maintaining DEI programs also carries risks like political backlash, conservative boycotts, and regulatory uncertainty under changing federal policies. Companies that kept their programs essentially decided that the business case for diversity outweighed the political costs of maintaining it.
What this all means
The great DEI divide of 2025 revealed something important about how corporate America operates under political pressure. Some companies gave in when faced with hostility because they thought it was the safest option, economically and politically, while others dug in and fought back with shareholder support and solid business justifications. Neither approach was inherently right or wrong; they just reflected different risk calculations, customer bases, and corporate cultures.
These companies’ resistance might not be guaranteed to last. They will most likely face sustained pressure from political groups and legal bodies. But they have demonstrated that corporate courage is, in fact, possible. If your business stands on business (ten toes in and all that) about the values you believe in beyond trends, you know what to do.