America
‘Woke’ CEOs Face Day of Reckoning
BRIAN
CORNELL CEO, Target
Conservatives file suits against bosses getting rich off progressive agendas.
T BY DAVID A. PATTEN
he progressive esg deba- cle that cost Anheuser- Busch and Target tens of bil- lions in stock value this sum-
mer has touched off a broad, growing backlash against “woke” corporations nationwide. “Go woke and go broke” is no lon-
ger just a snappy slogan. Wall Street now recognizes it is a real and pres- ent danger for companies that neglect their most important “stakeholder” — the customer. “Never off end your target market,”
former CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder tweeted, “no matter what your DEI team tells you!” Economist Stephen Moore tells Newsmax that CEOs face “a sort of ransom” over environmental, social, and corporate governance. If they make decisions based on profi t poten-
Consumers to Companies: Stay Out of Politics!
14 NEWSMAX | AUGUST 2023 C
tial, they risk the wrath of progressives. Moore adds that by going along with
ESG, CEOs think organizations like “Earth First, Sierra Club, and Black Lives Matter won’t come after us.” But when Bud Light hired trans-
gender TikTok personality Dylan Mul- vaney to sell its beer brand to mil- lennials, and Target rolled out “tuck- friendly” swimsuits to celebrate Pride month, folks on Main Street decided they’d had enough. The result was an equity bloodbath
on Wall Street, including: The imploding market value of Bud
Light. The stock value of Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, collapsed from $134.5 billion to $99 billion — a loss of more than $35 billion. Sales of Bud Light declined by
about 24% as it lost its coveted spot as America’s No. 1-selling beer to Mod-
-suite execs on Wall Street who are actively promoting
progressive policies might want to take another look at the polls. A survey earlier this year by
Trafalgar Group showed just how passionate most voters are
about keeping politics and business separate. The survey was based on responses from over 1,000 voters.
ABIGAIL JOHNSON CEO, Fidelity Investments
BRENDAN WHITWORTH U.S. CEO, Anheuser- Busch InBev
elo Especial. Target, meanwhile, plummeted
almost $13 billion in market value and its stock declined for nine straight trading days in May. Now, there are signs the anti-
ESG backlash is just beginning and may carry through all the way to the November 2024 presidential elections. In the legislative and legal arenas, the revolt is well underway. Both The Heritage Foundation and
the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are circulating pro- posals in state legislatures that would restrict or ban social-cause consider- ations in corporate investments. Already this year, governors in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mon- tana, West Virginia, and Utah have signed off on state laws restricting ESG practices, especially in pension investments. And more than a dozen other states
are considering similar legislation — a major wave of legislative activity.
It revealed nearly 8 in 10 voters — 78.8% — say they are more likely to do business with companies that don’t push political agendas. Even among Democrat voters, 76.9%
are more likely to do business with companies that
78.8%
said they’re more likely to buy from a company that stays politically neutral. That compares to 82.3% of Republican voters who preferred to do business with politically neutral corporations.
don’t push political agendas.
WHITWORTH/LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ/BELGA MAG/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES / CORNELL/AP IMAGES / JOHNSON/TWITTER / CLOUDS/ANANT_KASETSINSOMBUT©ISTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
