Study finds companies that kept DEI policies performed as well as those that cut them
Research by UC Berkeley economist analyzed S&P 500 firms after Trump's January 2025 executive order and found no financial penalty for maintaining diversity initiatives.
What to know
- UC Berkeley research found S&P 500 companies that kept DEI policies after Trump's January 2025 executive order—Apple, Costco, Delta Air Lines—performed financially as well as those that abandoned them.
- Companies that maintained DEI actually outperformed pullback firms in stock market in the days immediately after the orders, contrary to 'go woke, go broke' predictions.
- The finding contradicts years of conservative rhetoric that DEI initiatives harm business performance, though researcher notes outcomes may depend on company-specific consumer bases.
- Many major corporations (Google, Goldman Sachs, McDonald's, Walmart) quickly scrapped DEI commitments under federal pressure, revealing limited commitment to policies they had previously championed.
“Conservative backlash was supposed to put an end to the diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) movement as companies were warned 'go woke, go broke'.”
The Guardian · Guardian World ↗
Jacob Grumbach Associate Professor, UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy
Donald Trump U.S. PresidentDavid Glasgow Executive Director, Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at NYU Law School
How it unfolded parsed yesterday, 6:24 PM
- Since then5 newer items — 1 post · 4 comments — not yet read into this timeline ↓
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Mastodon users post supportive responses, with one noting 'Turns out doing the right thing is right' and praising researcher Jake Grumbach's work.
“Turns out doing the right thing is right. By which I mean correct.”
anatosaurus.bsky.social · Mastodon ↗ -
Guardian's Bluesky post about the research reaches 701 engagement, with users sharing and discussing the findings.
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The Guardian publishes the research exclusively, framing it as evidence that the 'go woke, go broke' threat did not materialize for companies that resisted pressure to abandon DEI.
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Jacob Grumbach's research analyzing S&P 500 companies' abnormal stock returns after Trump's executive orders found that firms retaining DEI policies performed as well as those that cut them. In the days immediately following the orders, DEI-retaining companies actually outperformed the market compared to pullback firms.
“firms that kept their DEI policies or voted down anti-DEI shareholder resolutions did just as well financially, even after Trump's executive order, as firms that didn't.”
Jacob Grumbach, Associate Professor, UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy · Mastodon ↗ - 84 weeks quiet
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Trump delivered what the Guardian called a 'death knell' to DEI in federal government and threatened to target companies that maintained such policies. Major corporations including Google, Goldman Sachs, McDonald's, and Walmart quickly abandoned their DEI commitments.
- 104 weeks quiet
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Series of high-profile boycotts emerged, including Bud Light's sales drop after featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney and backlash to Target's pride month merchandise. Ron DeSantis began a prolonged conflict with Disney over its opposition to Florida's 'don't say gay' bill.
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The US Supreme Court decision opened floodgates for legal challenges against DEI policies in workplaces and other sectors, creating fear and panic in corporate America.
“That really created a lot of fear and panic in corporate America and is what led to a lot of the pullbacks around DEI.”
David Glasgow, executive director, Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at NYU Law School · Mastodon ↗
The record 4 press and posts · last 26 hours presspostscomments
- parsed to here · yesterday, 6:24 PM · 1 item above arrived after
The conversation 28 comments and posts from 3 sites · verbatim · 59 claimed on the threads
Reddit and Mastodon users are split between those viewing the research as vindication of DEI benefits and those skeptical of its methodology or contesting DEI principles themselves. The conversation centers on whether the study proves DEI works, whether it accurately measures success, and deeper disagreement about what DEI policies actually accomplish.
The dispute Whether DEI policies fundamentally discriminate based on race (criticism camp) versus whether they improve organizational outcomes through diversity-driven innovation (support camp).
DEI maintains or improves business performance; research proves 'go woke, go broke' was false and companies that abandoned DEI lacked moral integrity.
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“Most companies use DEI in training and hiring because diversity of people brings diversity of thought and innovation.”
BluCurry8 · Reddit ↗ -
“So many US companies folded immediately after feeling federal pressure regarding DEI showing that they never actually had much in the way of moral integrity.”
Agile_End_3049 · Reddit ↗
DEI policies discriminate based on race and are fundamentally unjust; the study oversimplifies complex business performance into stock price.
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“Even in a vaccum it's easy to tell that policies that use your skin color to determine if you deserve preferential treatment aren't good for our society.”
elbuentinaco · Reddit ↗ -
“stock price is not the absolute measure of success. this analysis is not controlling for other factors like location.”
P_Firpo · Reddit ↗
'Go woke, go broke' was sometimes true (e.g., Gillette ad) but overgeneralized; mostly reflects confirmation bias applied selectively to failed projects.
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“There was examples of that phrase being somewhat true, like the Gillette ad that was simply bad marketing. But for the most part yeah.. the people saying it had a lot of hatred and were scared of change.”
Generalfrogspawn · Reddit ↗ -
“They trot it out selectively, like with Supergirl, pretending that it's a tried-and-true aphorism that's correct 100% of the time instead of recognizing that, in this example, it just wouldn't have been that great of a movie no matter who…”
Unique_Unorque · Reddit ↗
- What specific DEI policies does this research measure, and do the findings apply equally across different types of policies?
- Are there other factors beyond DEI decisions that influenced the stock performance differences that the study's methodology did not control for?
- Does stock price actually measure success, or are there other business metrics that should be considered?
- Today
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https://www. theguardian.com/world/2026/aug /14/dei-policy-company-performance # uspol # uspolitics
- Yesterday
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The fact that your comment is getting downvoted is the best evidence I have seen that the readers of this subreddit are not economists.
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AIUI, the idea is that a more diverse workforce brings in more variety of life experiences means more available viewpoints means a wider range of ideas means more options to poach the best ones. In practice it's a lot more mixed, since management tends to ignore employee ideas anyway.
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Target doesn’t even that good of prices, it’s nice if you need a bunch of random stuff and only want to make one stop but if you’re price conscious as most people now are it doesn’t make sense
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There is Prosperity in Diversity https://www. theguardian.com/world/2026/aug /14/dei-policy-company-performance
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stock price is not the absolute measure of success. 2. this analysis is not controlling for other factors like location. 3. what is the theory for why DEI policies should cause a company to thrive--exactly what policies?
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Supposedly, the classic example of this (and it's decades old) is Chevrolet wondering why their Nova car didn't sell well to Hispanics/south of the Border. Nobody told them "No va" means "doesn't go" in Spanish. (Anecdata.)
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I gave you several examples, arisked clear one in which the FAA clearly hired people who clearly did not have the required skills, where lives are at stake, and your reaction is to find a single one you didn't like and taking it out of context? Huh?
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Fuck the # TurdReich . Go woke OR go broke. https://www. theguardian.com/world/2026/aug /14/dei-policy-company-performance
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.Trump cannot regulate DEI for corporations. New research published on Friday and shared exclusively with the Guardian found that companies that resisted the pressure and kept their DEI practices, including Costco, Apple and Delta Air Lines, performed just as well as their rollover competitors US firms that kept DEI policie...
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Redditors love to make everything about class and oppression. There’s many alternatives if you just look around your city a bit. I know food deserts are real so there’s definite exceptions, but there’s many alternatives to big chains. I even shop at Asian and Spanish markets sometimes. Direct goods from manufacturer websites, local stores, etc…
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Turns out doing the right thing is right. By which I mean correct. Kudos @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy for the critical work cited here. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a... US firms that kept DEI policie...
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Conservative backlash was supposed to put an end to the DEI movement as companies were warned “go woke, go broke”. But new research shared exclusively with the Guardian found that companies that kept their DEI practices performed just as well as their competitors who pulled back.
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That is because most people don’t really understand DEI and try to make arguments about what it does not actually do. Most companies use DEI in training and hiring because diversity of people brings diversity of thought and innovation. It is sad that you actually have to teach people how to behave at work but that is what years of socially…
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This has nothing to do with fear and outrage. Even in a vaccum it’s easy to tell that policies that use your skin color to determine if you deserve preferential treatment aren’t good for our society. So much of what the loud minority of the left says is all about the optics of caring rather than actual caring - that’s why a lot of early woke…
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It was a decent show in my opinion. They put a lot of effort especially into the fight-choreographies and I enjoyed the different characters. Lee Jung-jae's portrayal of Sol was excellent, as was Manny Jacintos acting.
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The conspiracy theorists used it in a positive manner as well. Before 2016, places like /Conspiracy described those who believed the same things they did as "woke," as if they'd risen from slumber to see things as they really were. What's funnier is that when I did a search for the term in /Conspiracy from pre-2016, one such use was about Kanye…
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So many US companies folded immediately after feeling federal pressure regarding DEI showing that they never actually had much in the way of moral integrity and that their previous support for DEI was nothing more than an empty gesture intended to generate good publicity.
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What else are they gonna go watch? Some PragerU film with Dean Cain as legally-distinct-definitely-not-Superman and Kevin Sorbo as Jesus teaming up to punch woke commie Muslim terrorists in the face until they stop hating America?
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Hey democrat boy, tell me about the wars the Democrats were involved in. I’d like to know more. Epstein…wasn’t your boy Clinton the number one visitor. Gas prices fluctuate with every presidency. I’m not a broke fuck like you.
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What needs to be reviewed now is which companies made the cock ups and why they got it wrong. Was it deliberate, to undermine things for the benefit of a few people and therefore against the interests of shareholders, or was it simply an error of judgement?
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They trot it out selectively, like with Supergirl , pretending that it’s a tried-and-true aphorism that’s correct 100% of the time instead of recognizing that, in this example, it just wouldn’t have been that great of a movie no matter who the main character was So really it’s an expression of confirmation bias. It applies to anything they…
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We have known for a long time that diversity is beneficial. Only the de-educated and their masters disagree.
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There was examples of that phrase being somewhat true, like the Gillette ad that was simply bad marketing. But for the most part yeah.. the people saying it had a lot of hatred and were scared of change.