Investor and sometime reality TV Star Kevin O’Leary has had it with companies drifting ever-leftward. “Mr. Wonderful,” famous for his appearances on the reality show Shark Tank, spoke to NBC News about the farm-supply chain Tractor Supply’s recent decision to axe all spending on “woke” causes.
The company recently said it would stop cooperating with LGBTQ pressure group Human Rights Campaign, it’s getting rid of all positions having to do with Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and it won’t be spending on any social issues outside of its mission to serve rural Americans.
During an appearance on NBC, O’Leary said Tractor Supply’s recent move was a case study he’s going to add to his teaching practice at Harvard business school. Anheuser-Busch, O’Leary noted, is still “losing market share” over its disastrous partnership with a crossdressing man for a publicity campaign.
He asks students one question: “Who do you serve when you start a business?” O’Leary says the order of priority for any business should be: 1. customers 2. employees 3. investors. Why would a business focused on rural farm supplies be catering to an urban, leftist agenda?
“I think this company is looking at it saying, are we really responsible for climate change? A social agenda? Gender identity? Are these the things that we should actually be investing in or should we take care of our customers?,” he asked.
It seems like a simple, obvious question, but it also seems like few American corporations have asked it of themselves. According to business researchers at Harvard, American companies spend about $8 billion annually on DEI initiatives that likely have nothing at all to do with their bottom line.
O’Leary had a good time sending up the lecturing tone of the woke hucksters when he jokingly asked if the “hog community” on a farm really cares about the social justice spending done by the farm feed store. You can watch the whole segment below.
“The pendulum is swinging back to normalcy,” O’Leary said. “American is saying enough already, this stuff is too crazy, it doesn’t work, it’s not the core of what a business is about.”
It’s a biased sample, of course, but those who read O’Leary’s Twitter/X feed seem to agree.
Some wish O’Leary had gone even farther.
Does a company’s spending on political or social issues influence your decision about whether to patronize them? Tell us in the comments.
