Walmart Inc. is reversing course on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, joining a growing list of businesses retreating on DEI programs targeted by conservative activists.
The world’s biggest retailer will no longer consider race and gender to boost diversity when granting supplier contracts, and stop collecting demographic data when assessing financing eligibility.
The most prominent company so far to pull back on diversity promises, Walmart on Monday confirmed it would stop using the term “DEI” in official communications. It will also curb racial equity training for staff, stop participating in notable rankings by LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign and review its support for Pride and other events.
The changes were made public after anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck posted a social media video saying that he had threatened Walmart with a campaign to lead a customer boycott just days before Black Friday, one of the biggest holiday shopping events of the year.
Starbuck said he contacted public relations staff at the company last week asking that it pull its support from LGBTQ causes and other DEI initiatives. He promised to call on his 700,000 followers on X to boycott the retailer if it didn’t make the changes. A spokesperson for the company confirmed conversations with Starbuck over recent days.
Walmart’s decisions come from “a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers,” the spokesperson for the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said.
Growing Backlash
The retailer said it would stop using “DEI” and instead focus on “belonging” and work on a respectful and supportive environment. It also confirmed it will review funding of all Pride events and monitor online merchants for what Starbuck described as “sexual and/or transgender products marketed to children,” and remove items as necessary.
Walmart joins at least 10 other companies from Deere & Co. to Boeing Co. who have pulled back on their DEI commitments in recent months, as corporate America reconsiders diversity policies in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling banning affirmative action in college admissions.
That decision raised questions about the legality of corporate diversity programs, prompting many companies to quietly reevaluate their efforts. The ruling also emboldened a slew of anti-DEI activists, who say the backlash will intensify under President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump’s cadre of advisers includes several vocal critics of DEI, including billionaire Elon Musk, who often reposts Starbuck’s social media attacks. Stephen Miller, who Trump nominated for homeland security adviser and White House deputy chief of staff for policy, has sued companies for their DEI programs and launched federal complaints alleging that these initiatives discriminate against White men. Last week, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace filed a resolution that would prevent the first transgender member of the chamber from using the women’s restroom in the Capitol.
Diversity Hiring
Walmart, like many of its peers, pledged to do more for people of color after the murder of George Floyd by a White police officer in 2020. Walmart had already been working with the Racial Equity Institute for a couple of years by then, offering training on the history of race and racial inequity in the U.S. More recently, it implemented practices such as new diversity hiring guidelines, while offering a race and inclusion curriculum for U.S. employees and building relationships with historically Black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions.
The company has said its U.S. businesses sourced more than $13 billion in goods and services from more than 2,400 diverse suppliers in the year to January. It defines these vendors as at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by racial and ethnic minorities, women, veterans, members of the LGBTQ+ community or people with disabilities.
Walmart said in its latest culture and diversity report in 2024 that people of color represent about 51% of its total U.S. workforce. Among new U.S. hires, 49% were women and 29% were women of color. About 59% were people of color, the company said.
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