As more companies slash their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and practices, Costco continues to push back, something investor Kevin O’Leary finds “nuts.”
During his first week in office, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the termination of discriminatory practices in the federal government and urged the private sector to follow suit.
The Shark Tank star, who is also a Costco shareholder, called out the wholesaler for defending its DEI policies, even after 19 Republican attorney generals called for the bulk retailer to end its practice.
“They’re nuts if they think I want them fighting the federal government on policy,” the millionaire businessman said of Costco on Fox Business’ The Big Money Show.
“I don’t care who took that poll when there’s no way you’d get that result today,” he continued.
“You don’t fight the attorney general in multiple states, you got to be out of your mind.”
O’Leary said he thinks it’s “bad for business” and demanded the retailer find a resolution.
“Chop chop, guys. Figure this out,” O’Leary declared. “You’re breaking the law. Get compliant.”
McDonald’s, Target and Walmart are just some of the big companies stepping away from their DEI policies.
Costco shareholders voted last week to reject an anti-DEI proposal brought by activist shareholder group National Center for Public Policy Research.
The measure would have required the wholesale grocery chain to issue a report on the risks associated with their DEI policies.
O’Leary argued that in merit-based hiring, “you will find every race, colour, gender, everybody will come to the fore,” noting that the companies he owns under O’Leary Ventures focus on how a person performs at their job.
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“We don’t care if you’re gay or transvestite, or have tattoos or fishhooks in your eyelids, we couldn’t give a damn,” he insisted.
“Can you do the job, can you execute on the mandate? Those are the people we advance,” he emphasized.
“If you can do it, I don’t care what planet you came from, you got a job, and that actually solves this whole problem.”
He added: “We should have never got ourselves in this place. At the end of the day, when you piss off the federal government, you cost shareholders money and that’s exactly what happened here.”