Study Finds Companies Retaining DEI Policies Outperformed Peers After Trump Order

A new study released on Friday evaluated how S&P 500 corporations responded financially to the January 2025 executive order issued by Donald Trump that threatened companies supporting diversity, equity and inclusion. Associate professor Jacob Grumbach applied the concept of abnormal returns to isolate the market impact of each firm’s DEI stance. The findings indicate that businesses which retained DEI programs—including Costco, Apple and Delta Air Lines—experienced stock performance on par with, and at times better than, peers that publicly dropped such initiatives, such as Google, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s and Walmart.

Grumbach notes that companies confident in their consumer base, like Apple, may have anticipated weathering the political backlash. The research also reflects broader trends from 2023, when conservative boycotts against brands like Bud Light and Target heightened corporate anxiety about DEI. Experts like David Glasgow of NYU’s Meltzer Center observe that many firms made selective adjustments rather than wholesale rollbacks. Overall, the study concludes that maintaining DEI commitments did not harm financial outcomes, highlighting corporate leeway in resisting politically motivated pressure.