Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational holding company operated by Warren Buffett, just became the latest company to distance itself from diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The firm’s most recent annual report on Saturday appears to have removed a section that mentioned the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement, according to Reuters.
Last year, the annual report said that Berkshire Hathaway seeks to run its 189 portfolio businesses with an approach to hiring that “intended to identify qualified candidates and promote diversity and inclusion in the workforce.”
But this year, the section about promoting “diversity and inclusion in the workforce” was removed, and the passage simply ended after the word “candidates.”
The move comes one year after Berkshire Hathaway board members recommended that shareholders vote against a resolution to have the company disclose more information about its diversity programs.
The shareholders followed their lead by a substantial margin.
Now, the election of President Donald Trump and his emphasis on eliminating DEI programs has pressured many companies to scrap the initiatives, at least nominally.
Those companies include behemoths like online retailer Amazon, financial institution Citigroup, restaurant chain McDonald’s, and omnichannel retailer Walmart.
There are undoubtedly some executives eager to see DEI go away.
Just five years ago, the entire corporate world faced unprecedented pressure from the left to issue statements, launch new programs, and even post black squares on their Instagram accounts to address purported systemic racism after the death of George Floyd.
But now, the pendulum has swung back to the right.
The hard power of Trump and his executive orders, coupled with the soft power of his base desiring a return to normalcy and an end to unhinged leftism in the culture, is successfully pressuring those same cowardly executives back in the other direction.
But if any of them are true DEI believers, Buffett is surely among their number.
The Oracle of Omaha is a longtime supporter of the Democrats.
Though he was less involved in the 2024 race, he has been a staunch liberal in the past, raising money for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as publicly campaigning with the latter.
Buffett supports the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the nonprofit he founded and named after his now-deceased first wife, which has in turn donated $4 billion to abortion groups like Planned Parenthood between 2000 and 2018.
To put it nicely, Buffett is no stranger to speaking his mind, even in the most controversial ways and even by leveraging his vast fortune to support his preferred causes.
That’s why this move from Berkshire Hathaway, albeit very small, is still significant.
The business interests in this country are sensing where the political winds are blowing, and for one reason or another, they are following that same course.
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