After the Parkland, Fla., shooting in February, executives companies across the country -- from Dick’s Sporting Goods and BlackRock to Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Delta-- made the controversial decision to cut ties with gunmakers and the National Rifle Association.
When President Trump announced the travel ban on several majority-Muslim countries last year, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos openly voiced their opposition to the policy.
This kind of CEO activism, when corporate leaders take political or social stances that are “unrelated to the bottom line,” has taken off in recent years, explained Aaron Chatterji, Associate Professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He wrote about this trend in an article for the [Harvard Business Review](https://hbr.org/cover-story/2018/03/divided-we-lead).
There are three main factors driving this trend.
The first comes from inside the companies themselves -- the employees.
“A lot of millennials especially are pushing their bosses to speak out,” explained Chatterji.
Second is the increasingly polarized political climate.
“Being in the middle is really hard,” he said. “You see the middle sort of being hollowed out of both political parties. That’s where companies used to be, and [now] they’re forced to occupy one side or the other.”
And finally, social media gives CEOs “a microphone that’s always on” and access to direct conversations with their consumers.
But having a vocal CEO doesn’t come without risks.
“This is uncharted territory,” Chatterji said. “A lot of CEOs and companies are finding themselves getting burned by these activist stands,” because they open up the possibility of consumer backlash or even isolation from investors.
Many companies, though, also benefit from this movement. Chatterji pointed to Apple as an example.
After CEO Tim Cook called Indiana’s proposed religious freedom law “dangerous” in 2015, “we found...there were people who were more likely to buy Apple products.”
Merriam-Webster has fully revised its popular “Collegiate” dictionary with over 5,000 new words. They include “petrichor,” “dumbphone” and “ghost kitchen.” Also “cold brew,” “rizz,” “dad bod,” “hard pass,” “cancel culture” and more.
YouTube will offer creators a way to rejoin the streaming platform if they were banned for violating COVID-19 and election misinformation policies that are no longer in effect.
Lukas Alpert of MarketWatch explores how networks, brands, and ad buyers absorb the shockwaves when late‑night show hosts are suddenly cut — and brought back.
A new poll finds U.S. adults are more likely than they were a year ago to think immigrants in the country legally benefit the economy. That comes as President Donald Trump's administration imposes new restrictions targeting legal pathways into the country. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey finds Americans are more likely than they were in March 2024 to say it’s a “major benefit” that people who come to the U.S. legally contribute to the economy and help American companies get the expertise of skilled workers. At the same time, perceptions of illegal immigration haven’t shifted meaningfully. Americans still see fewer benefits from people who come to the U.S. illegally.
Shares of Tylenol maker Kenvue are bouncing back sharply before the opening bell a day after President Donald Trump promoted unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism. Trump told pregnant women not to use the painkiller around a dozen times during the White House news conference Monday. The drugmaker tumbled 7.5%. Shares have regained most of those losses early Tuesday in premarket trading.
