Free Republic

Retail giant swats back at a conservative activist group ... In a steady parade of companies retreating from their diversity efforts, Costco Wholesale is standing out by holding fast. Ahead of its annual meeting next week, the warehouse retailer has urged its shareholders to reject a proposal .... Major companies from McDonald’s to Meta Platforms have faced pressure to reconsider diversity, equity and inclusion policies. That pressure has been amplified by anti-DEI boycott threats and ... In Costco’s case, a conservative activist group is pushing the company to compile a report on the risks posed by its initiatives. “It’s clear...

General Motors CEO Mary Barra is still committing to taking the automaker fully electric by 2035, even as third-quarter earnings show Electric Vehicles (EVs) are still not profitable. “That is the plan we’re still executing,” Barra told the New York Times of GM’s plans to fully transition to EVs by 2035 regardless of who is in the White House. Barra first made the commitment in 2021 after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office. The commitment, though, has not made EVs any more profitable.

the woke DEI disease has claimed yet another victim—this time, it’s the all-American motorcycle company Harley-Davidson. They’ve gone from easy riders to progressive pukes faster than you can say “born to ride,” all thanks to their uber-woke German CEO, Jochen Zeitz. He’s now admitting that he took the job at this legendary American brand in order to turn an iconic symbol into a DEI wasteland. Think Bud Light on wheels .… CEO Jochen Zeitz admits that he took the Harley job because it was an opportunity to transform an American icon into embracing wokeness and DEI. ... He said this...

Buzzy healthcare company Hims & Hers lost nearly $210 million in stock value in a single day after the company’s CEO said he and other executives were “eager” to hire anti-Israel student protesters who’ve faced disciplinary actions from their universities. The online sexual health and pharmaceutical company plummet 8% on Friday from its opening price of $12.24 to $11.26 — just two days after Palestinian-American CEO Andrew Dudum said companies would be happy to have the protesters and encouraged them to apply to Hims and Hers. “Moral courage > College degree,” Dudum tweeted on Thursday, amid the nationwide anti-Israel protests...

Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) division lost $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024, which adds up to a $132,000 loss for each of the 10,000 EVs sold. Sales of Ford EVs also plunged by 20 percent compared to last year, and “its revenue plunged 84% to about $100 million, which Ford attributed mostly to price cuts for EVs across the industry.” Ford expects losses on its Model e to hit $5 billion by the end of the year. More: The losses go far beyond the cost of building and selling those 10,000 cars, according to Ford. Instead the losses...

Unilever is a £100 billion company, one of the biggest beasts on the London stock market ... But have its bosses gone off their trolley in their mania for 'woke' values? Terry Smith, a leading fund manager and long-term shareholder in Unilever, thinks so. He used his annual letter to his own investors as the forum for an extraordinary broadside at the company's top executives, accusing them of having 'lost the plot'. ... Critics have been uneasy for several years about Unilever's politically correct antics. At times, its posturing would have seemed more at home in an undergraduate common room...

The Westfield mall used to be the beating retail heart of San Francisco. Westfield stopped paying the mortgage on this shopping mall .. Foot traffic has plunged ... life becomes untenable for some residents. They leave, like some did in the pandemic, or they live in RVs or on the street. ... the cracks are beginning to show. One of the biggest fissures so far was.. the news that Westfield stopped paying its $558 million mortgage and is surrendering its namesake shopping mall to lenders. This is the biggest mall in San Francisco. When tourists come to experience this famous...

Stephen Curry is one of many NBA players who is facing a heavy financial hit over the next few months. As a result of COVID-19 and the way contracts are structured, the 32-year-old could lose nearly $20 million in 2020-21.

Larry the Cable Guy ain't playing around or taking any mumbo-jumbo from the nitwit celebrities out there who just made a video of themselves singing "Imagine" - but basically ignoring all the homeless people in...