Reuters
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Costco shareholders voted firmly against a proposal requesting a report on the risks linked to the maintenance of its diversity and inclusion initiatives, the American company said on Thursday, sending a message against the examination meticulousness to which many corporate policies are subject.
Voting was considered a first test of investors’ opinion on the value of business, equity and inclusion corporate programs (DEI), that many companies have added or reinforced from 2020 in 2020 in 2020 in 2020 in 2020 in 2020 in 2020 in 2020 The framework of the Black Lives Matter movement.
More than 98 % of shareholders voted against the annual meeting, said Costco.
Last year, resolutions of shareholders of American companies seeking to counter the programs of I and other social corporate considerations collected less than 2 % of support on average.
Lindsey Stewart, Director of Research and Policies on Responsible Management at Morningstar Sustainallytics, said that similar result at Costco “suggests that even if the political environment in terms of work is evolved, the weak Investor propensity to support anti-DEI resolutions has so far been unchanged. »»
President Donald Trump published a decree ordering heads of government agencies to dismantle policies in federal agencies, federal entrepreneurs and in the private sector.
He also suggested that some companies would be the subject of investigations and legal proceedings if their programs were deemed discriminatory.
Costco’s proposal came from the National Center for Research on Public Policy, which is described as a reflection group on the free market and has asked the company to assess the potential trade risks linked to its dei policies.
The group, which has not immediately commented on the result, said that such efforts could pose legal, reputation and financial risks, likely to have an impact on yields for shareholders.
The Costco board of directors, which called for voting against the proposal, said that the report would not provide “significant additional information” to shareholders.
Companies such as Meta, Amazon, Jpmorgan Chase and Boeing have modified their initiatives, abandoned their objectives of IT or ended their participation in the actions of the companies of Human Rights Campaign Foundation. But it is only now that most shareholders have the opportunity to decide on these questions.
The retailer reserved for members has more than 300,000 employees worldwide and around 219,000 in the United States, according to its 2024 annual report.