Pressures on DEI Initiatives Lead Public Companies to Revise Risk Factors

It is no secret that companies are grappling with how to address countervailing pressures on diversity initiatives in this first quarter of the second Trump administration.  This issue is front and center as U.S. public companies review their public filings, in particular their risk disclosures about DEI.  Like other companies, The Gap, Inc. is one of the latest to add language to its 10-K describing the risks of these pressures.  Following the wave of companies before it, it also revised how it talks about those initiatives, “using ‘inclusion and belonging’ instead of ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ in some sections of its report.”  As we move into the second quarter with the Anti-DEI executive orders enjoined but looming, companies will track these evolving disclosure trends and keep an eye on any impacts to their DEI initiatives.