Apple Shareholders Still Haven’t Given Up On DEI

Apple shareholders voted against a proposal Tuesday to scrap the tech giant’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

The proposal — drafted by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a conservative think tank — urged Apple to join Silicon Valley’s growing rejection of the policies since President Donald Trump took office. Apple’s board recommended shareholders vote against the “unnecessary” proposal, arguing the company’s “well-established compliance program” insulated it from the threat of DEI-related litigation, which has increased in the wake of various anti-discrimination Supreme Court cases. Shareholders ultimately heeded the board’s advice, with over 97% voting against the motion, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

“It’s clear that DEI poses litigation reputational and financial risks to companies, and therefore financial risks to their shareholders, and therefore further risks to companies for not abiding by their fiduciary duties,” NCPPR wrote in its argument to shareholders.

NCPPR argued the shifting judicial consensus around what is considered discriminatory — paired with an executive branch increasingly hostile to DEI programs — placed Apple in a precarious legal position, exposing the company to anti-discrimination claims. The think tank cited Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the 2023 Supreme Court decision that ruled race-based affirmative action practices in college admissions unconstitutional, and fears that corporate DEI programs could be implicated under the ruling. Those fears intensified, NCPPR argued, when the Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protected against discriminatory job transfers, as well as lowering the bar for employees to successfully sue their employers on that basis in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis.

The think tank also pointed to several other major companies — including Google, Microsoft, Meta, Zoom and others — that have rolled back or completely eliminated their DEI programs and departments following the legal developments.

The president echoed the NCPPR’s sentiments in a Truth Social post Wednesday, calling on the tech giant to “get rid” of DEI policies.

“APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM. DEI WAS A HOAX THAT HAS BEEN VERY BAD FOR OUR COUNTRY. DEI IS GONE!!!” Trump wrote.

Apple’s board maintained that its existing compliance programs sufficiently protected the company from the threat, adding the proposal “inappropriately attempts to restrict Apple’s ability to manage its own ordinary business operations, peoples and teams, and business strategies.”

The vote comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a $500 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing facilities Monday in an apparent effort to avoid the president’s new tariffs on goods imported from China and Mexico. Trump initially revealed the move Friday, days before the announcement, after a private meeting with Cook in the Oval Office.

“I hope he’s announced it … they stopped two plants in Mexico that were under construction, starting construction. They just stopped them; they’re going to build here instead because they don’t want to pay the tariffs,” Trump said. “Tariffs are amazing.”

It is unclear what manufacturing facilities Trump referenced, but Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer of iPhones and Nvidia chips, has substantial operations in Mexico and announced an expansion there in November. The president announced a 25% tariff on nearly all Mexican imports, along with tariffs for Canada and China. The Mexican tariffs didn’t immediately take effect, as Trump agreed to a 30-day pause after meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in exchange for Mexico deploying 10,000 National Guard troops to its northern border to combat drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl. The pause expires March 4.