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Comment by rdtsc | Hacker News Reader

> Companies will only fight back on things that impact their short-term bottom line.

The speed with which they all dropped DEI programs was shocking. Especially after years of saying how it's critical, it makes them more vibrant, stronger, etc. I guess they never believed any of that.

It seems Stripe CEO is the only one left wondering what the heck happened: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/05/16/john-collison... ( https://archive.ph/5PFgq )

> “I am baffled by all the companies doing an about-face on their social initiatives right now. Did you not actually mean it in the first place? Either don’t do it, or do it and stay doing it, but don’t do this ‘DEI is cancelled now’,” he says. “It’s very odd to me.”

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I think these companies found it harder to hire, and thus worked harder to look good to perspective employees. Now with the hiring market being reset in a way that favors employers, a lot of that is going away.

I think that’s right, extending hiring to include retention. Tech workers had an almost two decade run of extremely high negotiating power and many used that to have more influence on company policies than most workers are allowed. There’s a theory that what we’re seeing now is more resentment about upsetting the power dynamic than any actual cost these guys suffered, and that’s compatible with e.g. those leaked group chats.

Credit to him I guess. Someone should keep a list of companies that are sticking to their guns.

The end of ESG investing and, yes, preference falsification and preference cascade. They never believed in it, it was just socially unacceptable to admit it until the pendulum swung back in the other direction.

It uh, was not shocking at all, unless you believed that companies are honest about anything.

Did you really think Target had any strong opinion on LGTBQ people? Or were they just aware of the fact that LGTBQ people buy shit. The Stripe CEO knew that, he's just doing PR.

> Or were they just aware of the fact that LGTBQ people buy shit.

But it's not like they started needing more stuff and now they figured they'll buy less stuff again. The demand was already there and the customers were already there. That's why it's kind of surprising. Not just Target, Boeing, even Meta and so on. Nobody stood up and said, "no, we stand by it".

> The Stripe CEO knew that, he's just doing PR.

Well, maybe his actions will indicate it's not just PR? He's the CEO, after all, so he can certainly make it happen.

> It uh, was not shocking at all, unless you believed that companies are honest about anything.

No of course not, but we can point their hypocrisy out so every one can see it.

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