For conservative groups, losing big at company annual meetings is still winning.
That’s because their growing presence at the shareholder gatherings is simultaneously disrupting management plans and generating headlines, even as their proposals to end corporate diversity programs attract scant support from investors.
Each year, companies face hundreds of resolutions from progressive groups to change their policies to be more supportive of employee diversity, labor rights and other social issues. Until 2022, there were just a few proposals from groups that opposed these initiatives. But as the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion has intensified in the U.S., the number of so-called anti-DEI proposals has multiplied.
There were 42 proposals filed this year by prominent conservative investors that are considered anti-DEI, compared with just one in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Although they make up more than a third of the resolutions related to social issues filed in …