A list of companies that have pulled back on DEI, including Salesforce, Amazon, Google, and Meta

In its annual financial disclosures filed on March 5, Salesforce left out language describing diversity and inclusion as core values, a change from past filings. Language about some executive compensation being tied to employee diversity measures was also gone.

The company said in the filing that it’s still committed to equality, but it’s “firmly rooted in compliance with federal law and other applicable laws and regulations in the regions in which we operate.”

“We value the equality of every individual at our company and in our communities and are dedicated to fostering a workplace that complies with these protections, creating an inclusive culture where every individual feels seen, heard and valued,” Salesforce said in its filing.

Salesforce’s CEO Marc Benioff has previously shown support for LGBTQ+ employees, and spoken out about an Indiana bill that made it legal for individuals to use religious beliefs as a defense when sued by LGBTQ+ people. In an interview with Axios earlier this year, the CEO said the company would do “everything” possible to help employees if someone was targeting them.

Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services firm, has scrapped some DEI programs and asked staff working in its Government & Public Services division to remove pronouns from their email signatures.

The decision to change DEI policies followed “a detailed review of all pertinent government directives to ensure we comply with their requirements, both as a private enterprise and as a government contractor,” Doug Beaudoin, Deloitte’s chief people officer, told employees in an internal memo seen by BI.

Deloitte receives $3.2 billion annually through its contracts with federal agencies.

The firm’s UK division has split with its US counterpart on DEI. The week of the changes, Deloitte’s UK chief sent a memo to staff confirming that the firm remained “committed” to diversity goals in the UK.

Fellow Big Four firm KPMG has ended a DEI talent strategy that was set up amid the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and removed annual DEI transparency reports from its website.

The consultancy’s changes were announced via an internal memo sent to the US workforce on February 14.

“The legal landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts has been shifting, via executive orders and in the courts,” Paul Knopp, chair and CEO of KPMG US, wrote in the memo.

KPMG is ending its “Accelerate 2025” strategy, which aimed to achieve 50% of managing partners and managing directors coming from underrepresented backgrounds by 2025. KPMG typically tracks progress to the end of its financial year on September 30.

In September 2023, 45.3% of US partners and managing directors came from under-represented groups such as women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals, according to a report still available on KPMG’s website.

Amazon has changed its DEI language on some of its website pages and discontinued some programs.

The company removed all mentions of diversity and inclusion from its 2024 annual report. As recently as January 24, Amazon’s DEI page was titled “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” according to an archived page viewed by BI. That page is now called “Inclusive Experiences and Technology.”

“We update this page from time to time to ensure it reflects updates we’ve made to various programs and positions,” an Amazon spokesperson told BI.

In December, Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s vice president of inclusive experiences and technology, said in a memo that the company was shutting down several “outdated” DEI programs to focus on initiatives with “proven outcomes,” Bloomberg reported.

Mai-Lan Tomsen Bukovec, the vice president of technology at Amazon Web Services, told employees in late January that the company was “not pulling back on DEI initiatives,” adding, “there’s no change to the commitment, but we didn’t roll it out that well,” according to a transcript obtained by BI.

Global consulting firm Accenture has updated its diversity and inclusion goals, according to an internal memo sent by CEO Julie Sweet in February and seen by BI.

The company is “sunsetting” its 2017 employee representation goals and career development programs for people of specific demographic groups.

Accenture will also pause submissions to external diversity benchmarking surveys while it evaluates whether to continue participating in those surveys, the memo said.

Sweet said the changes come as a result of the “evolving landscape in the United States, including recent Executive Orders with which we must comply,” as well as the company’s continual evaluation of internal policies.

Sweet noted in the memo that Accenture had largely achieved its 2017 representation goals. She also wrote that the company would invest more in core career development programs and “put a greater focus on inclusion and a sense of belonging for all.”

Google told employees in February that it will no longer have hiring goals tied to representation.

It’s also evaluating its DEI programs and initiatives, including “those that raise risk, or that aren’t as impactful as we’d hoped,” Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi, wrote in a memo to staff.

“We’re committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities, and over the last year we’ve been reviewing our programs designed to help us get there,” a Google spokesperson told BI.

The spokesperson said Google updated language in its annual 10-K report to reflect the change.

“As a federal contractor, our teams are also evaluating changes required following recent court decisions and executive orders on this topic,” the spokesperson added.

Target sent a memo to its employees in January announcing the end of its three-year DEI goals.

Written by Kiera Fernandez, Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, the memo characterized the change as a way to remain “in step with the evolving external landscape.”

The memo also announced that Target would no longer participate in surveys that monitored diversity within the company, and would end a program to carry more products from minority-owned businesses.

Target will also be changing the name of its “Supplier Diversity” team to “Supplier Engagement.”

Meta announced it was rolling back many of its DEI initiatives in January.

In an internal memo, the company’s vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, said there would no longer be a team focused on DEI, adding that the term had become charged and that it suggested, to some, “preferential treatment of some groups over others.”

“The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” she wrote. “The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI.”

The changes affect diversity efforts across hiring, choosing suppliers, and training, the memo said.

Fast food giant McDonald’s joined the ranks of large American companies rolling back some DEI initiatives.

The company announced in a press release on January 6 that it would stop setting representation goals, pause participating in external surveys related to DEI, and end a requirement for supply chain partners to adhere to DEI targets.

McDonald’s diversity team will also get a new name. It’ll be called the “Global Inclusion Team” instead, the company said in its January announcement.

Despite these changes, McDonald’s says inclusion remains one of its “core values.”

Representatives of McDonald’s did not respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular working hours.

In August, Harley-Davidson said on X that it would drop diversity-based spending goals from suppliers, halt socially motivated employee training, and withdraw from an annual LGBTQ acceptance rating by the Human Rights Campaign, Bloomberg reported.

Harley told Bloomberg that the company was “saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community,” following Starbuck’s calls on X for the company to apologize and change its policies.

Bloem, from the Human Rights Campaign, said in the statement to BI that retreating from DEI hurts employees and customers.

“Harley-Davidson’s choice to back away from the Corporate Equality Index is an impulsive decision fueled by fringe right-wing actors and MAGA extremists who believe they can bully their way into dismantling initiatives that help everyone thrive in the workplace,” Bloem wrote.

John Deere has pulled back on its DEI commitments, including no longer participating in cultural awareness events and abolishing the company’s pronoun policy, BI reported in July.

While John Deere did not publicly announce the reason for its decision, the shift came following online criticism from Starbuck in a video from X, which garnered over 5 million views in July.

Tractor Supply significantly scaled back its DEI programs, including eliminating diversity roles and withdrawing from Pride event sponsorship. The company also announced that it would no longer provide data to the Human Rights Campaign, and it would end its carbon emission goals. This came after Starbuck’s criticized the company for promoting what he labeled as “woke” policies, NPR reported in June.

While Starbuck did not specifically target Polaris, the Harley competitor has reduced its DEI efforts, including removing any mention of the term from its web pages. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company emphasized its intention to abstain from political discussion.

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s said that it would scale back its DEI programs in an internal note viewed by Bloomberg.

Per the memo, the company will stop participating in surveys run by the Human Rights Campaign, and it will merge resource groups for minority employees into one umbrella organization, Bloomberg reported on August 27.

Starbuck said on X that he caused Lowe’s policy shift. However, a Lowe’s spokesperson told Bloomberg that they had already begun making changes prior to Starbuck’s involvement.

Lowe’s has a consumer base largely consisting of rural baby boomers, according to data from the consumer analytics firm Numerator.. The company was labeled “best place to work for LGBTQ equality” by the Human Rights Campaign in Lowe’s 2021 culture, diversity, and inclusion report.

Orlando Gonzales, the senior vice president of programs of research and training at the Human Rights Campaign, told BI in a statement that scaling back from DEI policies would have negative consequences for companies in the long run.

“Companies should not cower to a random guy with zero business experience,” Gonzales said, citing Starbuck’s removal from the Tennessee GOP ballot in 2022.

In an internal email shared with Bloomberg by Starbuck, the carmaker said that it would pull out of certain diversity rankings, such as the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

The company also said that it would reorient its employee resource groups to make them accessible to all staff. Ford also pledged to be less involved in political matters and changed some corporate sponsorships.

Ford faced backlash after it saw quality issues and vehicle recalls.

Starbuck wrote in a post on X that Ford’s withdrawal from DEI initiatives came just as he was investigating Ford’s “woke policies.”

Meanwhile, the HRC said that Ford “cowered” to Starbuck and that the company had “decades of commitment to inclusion and top ratings on the HRC Corporate Equality Index.”

“The Human Rights Campaign could not be more disappointed to see the company shirking its responsibility to its employees, consumers, and shareholders,” said HRC president Kelley Robinson in a statement.

Beverage company Molson Coors is scrapping many of its DEI policies and initiatives, CNBC reported in September.

In an internal memo obtained by BI, Molson Coors said it would remove quotas for supplier diversity. These quotas, which encourage sourcing supplies from minority or women-owned businesses, can be “complicated and influenced by factors outside” the company’s control.

Additionally, the brewer stated that it will shift company training away from DEI-based programs to focus more on key business objectives.

The company said the decision to scale back, which was in the works since March, was made to ensure that executive compensation is solely based on business performance and does not include “aspirational representation goals,” according to the memo.

Molson Coors will also no longer participate in the HRC Equality Index or any other third-party company rankings, reported CNBC. The company has previously received a perfect 100-point score for 19 consecutive years.

The memo added that the driving force behind the change was “the understanding that when all our people know they are welcome, they are more engaged, motivated, and committed to our company’s collective success.”

Survey results published by the HRC in September found that more than 75% of adults from the LGBTQ+ community unfavorably view companies that rolled back DEI initiatives.

The HRC’s Gonzales said that the LGBTQ+ community holds over $1.4 trillion in spending power in the US and wants to “work for and support companies who support us.”

The companies did not respond to BI’s requests for comment.

Walmart will end some of its DEI initiatives, including winding down its nonprofit Center for Racial Equity, which Walmart funded with $100 million in 2020 for five years, and discontinuing programs that assist minority-owned suppliers.

The company will also stop using the phrase DEI in company documents, stop sharing the details of its LGBTQ+ corporate policies with the Human Rights Campaign and stop allowing third-party sellers to list items marketed toward the LGBTQ+ community.

“We are willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America. We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect,” Walmart said in a statement to BI.

In a post on the social media platform X, conservative activist Robby Starbuck claimed credit for Walmart’s policy change, calling it “the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America.”

Nissan is rolling back some of its diversity initiatives, Starbuck announced on social media in December.

In a statement provided to BI when asked about Starbuck’s post, Nissan said, “Whether with employees, customers, business partners, or the communities we serve, we believe that Nissan is a company for everyone. For nearly four decades, our commitment to respect and inclusion has been rooted in our values, shaped an environment where each of our team members can contribute at work, and ultimately contributed to the success of our business.”

Starbuck said when he reached out to Nissan about their “woke policies” the company was receptive. He shared a letter that he said was sent to Nissan employees from company exec Jeremie Papin.

The letter said the company would stop participating in third-party surveys with organizations “heavily focused on political activism.” Starbuck said that meant the company would not participate in the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.

The letter also said the company would align employee training with “core business objectives” that support “personal job performance and career advancement.”

Nissan told BI it was already working on its communications with employees due to questions received internally but acknowledged it had also spoken with Starbuck ahead of the announcement.

Goldman Sachs significantly reduced language referencing DEI in its annual report.

The bank’s 2024 annual report referred to diversity in the context of human capital a total of three times, down significantly from the 14 times it was mentioned in the 2023 report and the 16 times it cropped up in 2022.

The company also eliminated a category from the report titled “Diversity and Inclusion,” which used to feature diverse hiring goals and a hiring breakdown by race and gender.

Goldman’s “aspirational hiring goals” also expire this year, and the bank hasn’t yet disclosed whether they’ll set new ones.

Earlier this year, Goldman also ditched a policy that required IPO clients to have a minimum of two diverse board members. The change came after a December court ruling over a similar policy at the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The investment bank first implemented a board diversity initiative in 2020, which mandated that IPO clients must have at least one diverse board member. A year later, Goldman raised the requirement to two members and stipulated that one must be a woman.

Goldman initiated a legal review of its policy after the December court decision, according to a company spokesperson.

“As a result of legal developments related to board diversity requirements, we ended our formal board diversity policy,” said Goldman spokesman Tony Fratto. “We continue to believe that successful boards benefit from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and we will encourage them to take this approach.”

Disney told employees in a memo that it’s refocusing its DEI efforts to business goals and company values. The changes will also affect content advisory notices that Disney started adding to movies in 2020, BI previously confirmed.

The memo, which BI has verified, said that DEI will be less important in determining executive compensation and that Disney is ditching Reimagine Tomorrow, a digital hub it launched to focus on underrepresented voices.

Disney also said in the memo that its Business Employee Resource Groups will rebrand as Belonging Employee Resource Groups.

The company is no stranger to political controversy over social issues. CEO Bob Iger has criticized Trump in the past, but taken a more muted approach in the beginning of his second term.

Citigroup’s CEO Jane Fraser sent a memo to staff in late February saying that the bank would rename its diversity, equity, and inclusion team to “talent management and engagement.”

The bank will also get rid of “aspirational representation goals except as required by local law,” the memo said. It continued that job candidates and interview panels don’t need to be diverse anymore.

Warner Bros. Discovery is putting an end to its participation in third-party workplace surveys, according to a memo obtained by Business Insider.

The company will “continue to gather internal data that allows us to understand how our employee base reflects the audience we serve.”

The memo was signed by Jennifer Remling and Asif Sadiq, WBD’s Chief People and Culture Officer and Chief Inclusion Officer.

It also detailed the adoption of a “uniform and consistent application process” across all WBD’s “talent programs, including internships, mentoring, and other development programs.”

The company will retain its business resource groups, the memo said, and continue to “prioritize inclusive storytelling” and grow “an inclusive team.”

The company’s overall work in the DEI space will now be referred to as “inclusion.” The memo also stated that WBD would be correspondingly “updating the language” used on its website, as well as throughout its internal channels.

On March 14, The department store chain Kohl’s changed the title of its chief DEI officer to chief inclusion and belonging officer.

Bloomberg first reported the change, noting that the retail giant had removed all references to DEI on its website, instead replacing the phrase with the words “inclusion and belonging.”

“We have evolved our framework to focus on inclusion and belonging,” Michelle Banks, who has held the role since it was created in 2021, said, Reuters reported.

Banks, who has been with the company since 2010, told Reuters that Kohl’s also broadened its supplier diversity program, adding qualified small businesses, including diverse small businesses.

Representatives for Kohl’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.