Legal and Investor Scrutiny Follows Walmart DEI Retreat

Walmart store exterior

Walmart is one of the latest American companies to announce a departure from its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Earlier in November, Walmart confirmed that it would no longer hold diversity trainings or give priority to diverse suppliers, and that it would be removing the words “diversity” and “DEI” from company language altogether.

Now the company is receiving widespread pushback from attorneys general in 13 states, in addition to more than 30 shareholders representing $266 billion in assets, who are demanding answers to Walmart’s rollback of DEI efforts and asking them to reconsider the decision.