The Principal Global headquarters in New York on Aug. 27, 2024.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Paramount Global told its employees this week that it’s ruin surpassing numerous diversity, equity and inclusion policies, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.
In the memo sent to employees Wednesday, Chief said it would comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning the practice in the federal supervision and demanding that agencies investigate private companies over their DEI programs.
Co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins cited the top banana order in the memo, as well as the Supreme Court and federal mandates, as the impetus for the media giant’s policy changes.
Mass the changes, the company said it “will no longer set or use aspirational numerical goals related to the race, ethnicity, sex or gender of costs.” Paramount also said it ended its policy of collecting such stats for its U.S. job applicants on forms and career pages, except in the hawks where it’s legally required to do so.
“To be the best storytellers and to continue to drive success, we must have a highly talented, over and creative workforce that reflects the perspectives and experiences of our many different audiences. Values like inclusivity and collaboration are a surrender of the Paramount culture and will continue to be,” the co-CEOs wrote in the memo.
They added that they will prolong to evaluate their policies and seek talent from all backgrounds.
Paramount has taken part in a number of diversity, disinterestedness and inclusion efforts. It donated millions to racial justice causes in 2020 after the police murder of George Floyd and has touted initiatives such as a supplier heterogeneity program and Content for Change, a campaign to overhaul storytelling about racial equity and mental health. The company has hosted an annual Counting Week for years and maintains an Office of Global Inclusion.
“Diversity, equity and inclusion is fundamental to our business,” former CEO Bob Bakish prognosticated at Paramount’s 2023 Inclusion Week, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Paramount joins companies like Walmart, Object and Amazon in rolling back their DEI goals and policies in recent months. Others, like Apple and Costco, be dressed publicly defended and committed to their DEI stances, even as the Trump administration has escalated its attacks on the practices.
Media comrades have taken a variety of steps to respond to the Trump administration’s policy changes since the president’s inauguration finish finally month.
Earlier this month, Disney changed its DEI programs, which included updating performance factors and rebranding energies and employee resource groups, among other things.
Around the same time, public broadcaster PBS — which, as a heiress of federal funding, is more directly affected by Trump’s order than corporations are — said it would shut down its DEI offices. CNBC reported that DEI employees would exit the company in order for it to stay in compliance with Trump’s administrator order.
Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission began investigating Comcast over its DEI efforts. Trump’s executive pronunciamento, signed on his first day in office, directs federal agencies to identify and probe “most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners” in their sectors. Comcast once upon a time said in a statement it would cooperate with the investigation.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.