ToplinePresident Donald Trump, who has led an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion crusade since taking office last month, demanded Apple get rid of its DEI programs in a Truth Social post Wednesday morning, one day after the companys shareholders voted to reject an anti-DEI proposal, bucking a national trend of companies that scaling back their diversity goals amid a wave of backlash.Apple shareholders voted against ending the company's DEI policies.AFP via Getty ImagesTimelineFeb. 25Bank of America will end aspirational targets for diversity hiring and replaced the word diversity with talent and opportunity in an annual report, Bloomberg reported.Feb. 25BlackRock cut references to DEI in its latest annual report, three years after the companys CEO Larry Fink said the company must embed DEI into everything we do.Feb. 20Citigroup will rename its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Talent Management team to Talent Management and Engagement, and it will end its diversity hiring goals, Bloomberg reported.Feb. 20Pepsi will no longer use representation goals in hiring, will transition its Chief DEI Officer position to focus more on employee development and will shift its supplier diversity program to focus on all small businesses, according to an internal memo posted on X by anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuckwho said he contacted the company about doing a story about their woke policies.Feb. 17JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup were removing or watering down language around their DEI efforts, unnamed people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal, and other banks including Wells Fargo and Bank of America have begun reviewing their DEI language, as well.Feb. 13Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were preparing to comply with Trumps executive order that sought to ban DEI programs as both receive government contracts, Bloomberg reported; Coca-Colas changes will likely be disclosed in future Securities and Exchange Commission filings, according to the report, and PepsiCos latest filing removed references to its diverse workforce and DEI.Feb. 12Dimon said he saw how we were spending money on some of this stupid s-, and it really pissed me off, stating in response to a question about DEI he will cancel some expenses he views as wasteful, Bloomberg reported, though he also reiterated his commitment to Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ community outreach, a viewpoint he has repeated in recent weeks even as other companies roll back their DEI commitmentsand he has previously slammed ridiculous anti-DEI crusaders targeting his company. (Forbes has reached out to JPMorgan Chase for comment).Feb. 11Goldman Sachs said it would drop a requirement that a company it takes public must have at least two diverse members on its board of directors, one of whom had to be a woman, which a company spokesperson told Axios is because of legal developments related to board diversity requirements (A federal appeals court in December ruled Nasdaq could not require companies to have board diversity quotas.)Feb. 11Disney is making several changes to its DEI approach, including shifting its Diversity & Inclusion performance metric used to evaluate employees to Talent Strategy, which is focused more on business outcomes, while also axing its Reimagine Tomorrow website which highlights diverse employees and adjusting content warnings it attached to some of its older films on Disney+ to remove references to diversity and culture.Feb. 11Deloitte told U.S. employees working with government clients to remove pronouns from their email signatures and said it would roll back its DEI goals and cease issuing diversity reportsbut the firms United Kingdom branch told its staff diversity remains a priority and it would stand by its diversity goals.Feb. 10PBSwhich Trump has repeatedly called for defundingshuttered its diversity, equity and inclusion office, and those who worked in DEI roles have left the company, which PBS said in a memo to staff is to make sure it complies with Trumps anti-DEI executive orders.Feb. 10Days after it cut diversity hiring goals, a Google spokesperson told CNBC it no longer marks the start of cultural observances like Pride Month and Black History Month because maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasnt scalable or sustainable, though it said it began making these changes in mid-2024.Feb. 7NPR first reported more than a dozen companies have pared back, or removed altogether, references to diversity, equity and inclusion in their 2024 annual reports to investors, including Pepsi, GM, Google, Disney, GE, Intel, PayPal, Chipotle and Comcast (GM removed all references to diversity, NPR reported, while Pepsi removed nearly all references after writing in its investor report last year DEI is a competitive advantage.)Feb. 7Professional services company Accenture said it would no longer use diversity targets in hiring and promoting, citing the Trump administrations push for private companies to roll back DEI goals, the companys chief executive Julie Sweet said in a memo to staff, Bloomberg reported.Feb. 7Amazons annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for 2024 omitted a section included in the companys prior annual report, which indicated Amazon has a focus on inclusion and diversity in hiring (the news was first reported by CNBC).Feb. 6The government-funded railroad service Amtrak confirmed to Bloomberg it would roll back its DEI programs and policies, which appeared to include efforts to hire and promote diverse employees and employee resource groups, according to the companys 2023 diversity report.Feb. 5Google informed its employees in an email that it will no longer have hiring targets around improving diverse representation among its staff, The Wall Street Journal first reported, and it is evaluating whether to continue other DEI programs and release DEI reportsthough it will continue having resource groups for underrepresented staff members.Jan. 28The Smithsonian Institution told employees its diversity office is closing as a first step to address Trumps new federal policy that declared DEI programs as dangerous and demeaning, the Washington Post reported, and the link to the institutions 2022 diversity and inclusion initiatives report and link to its equal employment opportunity policy are broken.Jan. 24Target, which had already curbed its LGBTQ Pride merchandise line in response to conservative backlash, announced it would pull back on racial hiring targets, end its Racial Equity Action and Change program and cease participation in external diversity surveys, with chief community impact and equity officer Kiera Fernandez telling employees in a memo the decisions were made based on many years of data and an effort to stay in step with the evolving external landscape.Jan. 17The FBI confirmed in a statement to Forbes it had closed its DEI officea frequent target of attacks by Republicansin December, prompting President-elect Donald Trump to demand the agency preserve and retain all records relating to the shuttered office as he accused the FBI of corruption in a Truth Social post.Jan. 10Amazon said it would roll back what it called outdated programs and materials in an internal memo, though it did not specify what would be discontinued, while certain programs aimed at addressing disparities would continue until the disparities are eliminatedJan. 10Meta said in a memo the company ended several programs intended to increase its hiring of diverse candidates, including its equity and inclusion training programs, after Janelle Gale, Metas vice president of people, said the legal and policy landscape surrounding DEI efforts in the U.S. is changing.Jan. 6McDonalds announced it would abandon specific diversity targets, cease participation in external surveys that measure company demographics and would rename its diversity team to Global Inclusion Team, citing the Supreme Court decision that ended affirmative action at universities and similar DEI walkbacks by other corporations, though it said it would continue to report demographic information in its own annual report.Nov. 25, 2024Walmart said it would abandon its DEI commitments, including winding down a Center for Racial Equity nonprofit it had founded in 2020 with a $100 million, 5-year commitment, ceasing third-party sellers from offering certain LGBTQ-themed products on its website, no longer participating in the Human Rights Campaigns external surveys and phasing out the term diversity, equity and inclusion in company documents.Nov. 1, 2024Boeing dismantled its global diversity, equity and inclusion department and redirected its staff to its human resources department to focus on talent acquisition and employee experience, Bloomberg reported.Sept. 4, 2024Molson Coors, which had in 2023 defended a feminist-themed ad that sparked conservative backlash, said it would abandon supplier diversity quotas, shift DEI training sessions to focus on business objectives and stop participating in external diversity surveys, despite previously receiving a perfect 100 from the Human Rights Campaign for its LGBTQ policies.Aug. 28, 2024Lowes said in an internal memo it would combine its employee resource groups into one umbrella organization, cease participating in HRC surveys and would stop participating in external events like Pride parades.Aug. 28, 2024Ford Motor Co. informed employees it would stop participating in external diversity surveys and would evolve its employee resource groups to focus on networking and mentorship to all employees, citing the evolving external and legal environment related to political and social issues.Aug. 22, 2024Jack Daniels manufacturer Brown-Forman told employees it would no longer tie executive compensation to DEI progress, remove workforce and supplier diversity goals and cease participating in the HRC index, citing the shifting legal and external landscape.Aug. 19, 2024Harley-Davidson said it abandoned its DEI function in April and said it does not utilize diversity quotas for hiring or suppliers, and that it would no longer participate in HRC surveys or partner with sponsors that do not focus on its loyal riding community.July 16, 2024Farm equipment manufacturer John Deere said it would no longer support cultural awareness events like Pride parades and would audit company documents to remove socially-motivated messages, adding that diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been company policy, though it said it would continue to internally track employee diversity.What Did Trump Say About Apple Keeping Its Dei Programs?Trump, in an all-caps Truth Social post, said Apple should get rid of DEI rules, not just make adjustments to them, calling DEI a hoax that has been very bad for our country. Apple shareholders on Tuesday voted against a proposal that would have required the company to consider banning its DEI initiatives. The proposal was filed by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank that has filed similar resolutions at many companies. The think tank claimed DEI poses litigation, reputational and financial risks to companies, and therefore financial risks to their shareholders in the resolution. At a shareholder meeting Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said some of the companys DEI policies may need to change to comply with the law, but the company would remain committed to creating a culture of belonging. Apple has previously indicated it would stand behind DEI: Last month, the companys board urged shareholders to reject the NCPPRs proposal, criticizing the group for inappropriately trying to restrict Apple's ability to manage its own ordinary business operations.ContraCostco has refused to back down from its DEI policies. The companys shareholders overwhelmingly voted to reject a proposal that would have obligated the company to review the potential risks of maintaining its DEI initiatives, with more than 98% of shareholders voting against the proposal. The board said it believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary. Apples board similarly urged shareholders to reject a proposal raised by the same think tank, accusing the group of inappropriately attempting to restrict Apple's ability to manage its own ordinary business operations. Delta Airlines also said it remains committed to DEI on a Jan. 10 earnings call. Peter Carter, the companys executive vice president for external affairs, told a reporter the company is not reevaluating DEI or sustainability policies because they are actually critical to our business, stating DEI is about talent and that's been our focus. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told Axios a diverse workforce is better because theres too much business value.