Advanced Micro Devices, Motorola and Regions Financial are among a dozen companies that have removed diversity criteria from executive bonus plans this year after pressure from conservatives, as the political backlash to the initiatives continue to divide US boardrooms. The 12 companies were among 60 that dropped environmental, social and governance incentives from their executive pay plans after pressure from Strive, the anti-ESG asset manager founded by Donald Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy.
Speaking at the Republican National Convention this week, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said DEI “really means division, exclusion and indoctrination and it is wrong”. DEI, and ESG more broadly, gained favour in executive pay plans in recent years but some asset managers have criticised these provisions as “fluffy” and unaligned with financial performance. Vanguard last year said it was concerned “poorly constructed ESG metrics could result in inflated pay relative to performance”.