Corporate Leadership

Walmart Under Fire From Investors for Cutting DEI Programs

  • Shareholders urge retailer to explain reason for policy change
  • Company spoke to anti-DEI activist before cutting programs

Employees restock shelves of school supplies at a Wal-Mart location in Burbank, California.

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
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A group of more than 30 shareholders representing $266 billion in funds has asked Walmart Inc. to explain its business case for retreating on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, describing the decision as “disheartening.”

In a letter to Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon, shareholders including Amalgamated Bank and Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, accused the world’s biggest retailer of giving into “bullying and pressure from anti-DEI groups.”