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Apple shareholders rejected a proposal to abolish the company’s Inclusion & Diversity program at the company’s annual meeting on February 25, 2025. Apple’s board opposed the measure, and contemporary reporting indicated that roughly 97% of votes cast were against it.
The vote preserved Apple’s overall DEI framework, but it did not guarantee that every program or policy would remain unchanged. CEO Tim Cook said Apple had no hiring quotas or targets and that the company might adjust its practices as legal requirements evolved.
What Apple shareholders were asked to decide
The proposal, titled “Request to Cease DEI Efforts,” was submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank whose Free Enterprise Project has brought similar resolutions at other large companies.
Despite shorthand descriptions of the measure as an attempt to end “DEI hiring,” its formal scope was broader. It asked Apple to abolish its Inclusion & Diversity program, related policies, the department responsible for the work and its goals.
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The proposal’s supporting statement argued that corporate DEI initiatives could expose companies to litigation, reputational damage and financial risk. It cited legal developments including the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the 2024 Muldrow v. City of St. Louis decision concerning workplace discrimination claims, and warnings from state attorneys general.
Why Apple’s board opposed the proposal
Apple recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution. In its formal opposition, the company made three central arguments:
- It would interfere with management. Apple said decisions about its workforce, teams and business strategy belong with company management rather than being dictated through a shareholder resolution.
- Apple already had compliance controls. The company said its compliance program was designed to ensure that its policies operated lawfully.
- Different perspectives support the business. Apple argued that bringing together people with different backgrounds and perspectives helps collaboration and innovation.
Apple’s defense of inclusion should not be confused with a claim that it used demographic hiring quotas. Cook said at the meeting that Apple had never used quotas or targets. The available sources do not establish that Apple selected employees solely on the basis of race or sex.
The vote was a decisive management victory
Shareholders rejected the proposal at the February 25 meeting. The Associated Press initially reported the rejection without a detailed tally. Later contemporary coverage, including Time, put opposition at approximately 97% of votes cast.
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That percentage should be treated as a reported approximation rather than an Apple-certified final figure unless supported by a definitive official filing. The result itself is clear: shareholders did not authorize the proposed abolition of Apple’s DEI structure.
Apple won the vote—but kept room to change
Cook’s comments added an important qualification. He defended Apple’s commitment to dignity, respect and collaboration among people with diverse backgrounds, while also warning that the company might need to make changes as legal requirements developed.
Those statements leave room for Apple to change the way its efforts operate or are described. Possible changes could include revising program names, eligibility rules, reporting practices, training or demographic goals. They do not mean that shareholders voted to preserve every existing initiative permanently.
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- Inclusion and nondiscrimination principles are not the same as demographic hiring quotas.
- Employee resource groups, training and workplace programs are broader than recruiting targets.
- Legal compliance changes do not necessarily mean that a company has abandoned inclusion efforts.
- A shareholder resolution is not a government order and does not automatically dictate every operational decision.
The political pressure surrounding the vote
The meeting took place during a broader U.S. backlash against corporate DEI programs following Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in January 2025.
The day after Apple’s meeting, Trump publicly urged the company to eliminate its DEI rules. His comments created additional political and regulatory pressure, but they did not themselves amend Apple’s internal employment policies or automatically require the private company to abolish them. The relevant risks involved possible enforcement priorities, federal-contractor rules, investigations and litigation—not an immediate legal cancellation of Apple’s programs.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How Apple’s fight fit the wider corporate debate
Apple’s vote was part of a broader campaign to pressure companies to reduce or eliminate DEI efforts. The National Center for Public Policy Research pursued comparable proposals at companies including Costco and Deere, while reporting at the time also described changes at Meta, Amazon and Google.
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Those companies did not necessarily make identical decisions. “Rolling back DEI” can mean ending hiring goals, closing a department, changing training, revising employee-resource-group rules or adopting different language. A company can reduce some initiatives without abolishing every inclusion or nondiscrimination practice.
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What the 2026 materials show
Apple’s reviewed 2026 proxy materials did not include a comparable anti-DEI proposal. The listed shareholder proposal concerned a China Entanglement Audit instead.
Apple also continues to publish an Inclusion & Diversity page describing its approach and employee groups. That public page does not prove that every internal program remains unchanged, but it is consistent with the conclusion that Apple did not agree in 2025 to abolish its DEI efforts.
What the result means for employees and investors
For employees and job seekers, the defensible conclusion is not that Apple ended diverse recruiting—or that it adopted a new hiring policy after the vote. The available evidence shows the opposite at the governance level: shareholders rejected a proposal to eliminate the company’s broader Inclusion & Diversity framework.
For investors, the dispute illustrates how shareholder resolutions can raise social and political issues by tying them to alleged legal, reputational or financial risks. Apple’s board prevailed, but management retained discretion to revise programs as law, regulation and business priorities change.
Bottom line
Apple shareholders rejected the push to abolish the company’s DEI program, policies, department and goals. Apple therefore preserved its stated Inclusion & Diversity framework rather than ending “DEI hiring.” But the vote was not a promise that every practice would remain fixed: Cook said Apple had no quotas or targets and could modify its approach as legal requirements evolved.
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