Costco Shareholders Boot Bid Seeking to Root Out DEI Risks (2)

Costco Wholesale Corp. investors rejected a proposal pressing the big-box retail chain to detail the risks of maintaining its current diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts amid heightened scrutiny of such programs.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative shareholder activist group, presented the proposal for a shareholder vote at Costco’s annual meeting Thursday. The proposal sought a diversity risk report, warning that the company’s initiatives to diversify its workforce and suppliers could prompt discrimination lawsuits from White or male employees, for example.

Costco pushed back against the proposal, affirming that its DEI programs reinforce “the importance of creating ...