Diller Dismisses Corporate ESG Principles as ‘Virtue Signaling’

Expedia Group Inc. Chairman Barry Diller largely dismissed the inclusion of environmental, social and governance principles in corporate decision making, saying many such programs just produce “glossy reports.”

“Most of ESG is virtue signaling, I’m afraid,” Diller said Tuesday at the Skift Global Forum travel conference in New York. BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink’s push for companies to become more sustainable was “above criticism” for several years, Diller said. But, while some ESG programs make sense, most of them are “truly empty calories.”