Investors Craft Counterattacks After Influencer’s Anti-DEI Blitz

Shareholder groups are considering options from proxy proposals to litigation to reinstate diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments at John Deere, Lowe’s, and other companies that dropped such initiatives following pressure from conservative social media influencer Robby Starbuck.

Activist investors are weighing how to push back on at least seven public companies that have cut diversity programs targeted by Starbuck, who initiated an online campaign earlier this summer seeking to prove DEI has no place in business operations.

The campaign is part of a broader conservative backlash to corporate America’s push to grow more diverse and inclusive in the ...