Robby Starbuck, who built a social media following by criticizing companies for their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, has set JPMorgan Chase (JPM) in his sights.
«JPMorgan … they are going to end up being a target for us,» the conservative Latino activist told Yahoo Finance.
Starbuck called the bank’s methods for training its adult employees on gender identity “embarrassing” and “ludicrous” and accused it of using illegal quotas to hire apprentices and analysts.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sounds ready for a fight. «Bring them on,» Dimon said of activist efforts targeting DEI during an interview with CNBC in Davos.
When asked specifically about Starbuck’s intentions, a JPM spokesperson referred Yahoo Finance to Dimon’s CNBC interview and his April 2024 shareholder letter, in which Dimon stood by JPMorgan’s DEI initiatives and said that JPMorgan would «scour» its DEI programs, words, and actions to make sure all comply with evolving laws.
The nation’s largest bank is not the first big American company that Starbuck has targeted.
Starbuck has amassed nearly 770,000 followers on X and is part of a broader cultural force credited with helping to motivate companies like Tractor Supply (TSCO) and Deere (DE) to abandon some of their DEI efforts in what has now become a political flash point.
“We realized the best place to start was start with the companies that had largely right-wing demographics that were consumers, and then slowly inch our way into what we call ‘jump ball’ companies, which are kind of like anybody’s game,” Starbuck said.
A person enters the JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York Head Quarters in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo ·Reuters / Reuters
Companies in a variety of industries have backpedaled over the past year from DEI policies that they once championed, and these policies now come under increasing criticism in the nation’s capital.
President Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that ends federal DEI programs and orders US agencies to “combat illegal private sector DEI actions.”
The non-government Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, reported on in late January that it canceled roughly $1 billion in federal contracts geared toward diversity.
Late last month, the Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration had placed nearly 60 Veterans Affairs workers on paid leave whose jobs were focused on diversity.
Starbuck is also not the only activist pushing companies to retreat from DEI.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, the National Legal and Policy Center, and the Heritage Foundation have submitted shareholder proposals seeking changes or deeper examinations of practices at several big banks.
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NCPPR and NLPC submitted anti-DEI proposals to Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase, while Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) got proposals from NLPC and Heritage asking for audits of how the banks treat customers with certain political beliefs.
Over the past year, a range of companies from other industries have done about-faces on diversity, including Meta (META), Walmart (WMT), McDonald’s (MCD), Lowe’s (LOW), Ford (F), Tractor Supply (TSCO), and John Deere (DE). The latest reversal came last Friday when retailer Target (TGT) said it would end its three-year diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.
Not all companies have changed course.
For example, Costco (COST) urged its investors to vote against a shareholder proposal from the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, that would have forced the company to evaluate risks from its DEI practices. The measure was defeated, with 98% of investors siding with the company.
Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building on Dec. 6, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) ·Win McNamee via Getty Images
And JPMorgan is not the only big lender holding firm on its DEI stance for now.
The CEO of Goldman Sachs in January said he would continue to focus on efforts to promote DEI, and the CEO of Deutsche Bank (DB) made the same point, calling DEI programs an «integral» part of the firm’s strategy.
«We are now firmly behind this program,» Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing said on Jan. 30. «We can see how Deutsche Bank has benefited from it.»
For his part, Starbuck aims to continue the battle, pushing into an ever-widening group of companies across various industries and sectors.
Starbuck said the DEI programs he targets work against the financial interests of the company and company shareholders and that company executives promoting them are breaching their fiduciary duties to make money.
“At the end of the day, if you see the evidence that this is not making you money, or this is wasting you money, then you should get away from it.»
He told Yahoo Finance he has a «copious amount» of evidence about JPMorgan’s DEI policies.
But Dimon said in his 2024 shareholder letter that JPMorgan’s management team believes that its DEI policies enhance business, the general economic well-being of communities and countries, and long-term shareholder value.
The bank’s DEI initiatives include a nearly completed five-year, $30 billion commitment to help Black, Hispanic, Latino, and other underserved communities obtain grants and loans for housing, small businesses, and supplier diversity.
Dimon said in the letter that, going forward, JPMorgan planned to embed the programs into its «business-as-usual operating system.»
David Hollerith contributed to this article.
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