Good morning! Podcaster Andrew Tate and brother sued for luring woman into sex work, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace makes House speech about assault, and DEI encounters another unceremonious end.
– Rule, reversed. In 2020, Goldman Sachs made a big splash by declaring the bank would refuse to take a company public if the business didn’t have at least one board member considered “diverse” in some way—later upped to two. My colleague Claire Zillman reported from the World Economic Forum in Davos that year, where CEO David Solomon made the pledge. “IPOs are a pivotal moment for firms,” he said at the time. Goldman was uniquely positioned to influence the direction companies headed in the years post-IPO.
Yesterday, that rule was the latest casualty of the 2025 DEI rollback and President Donald Trump’s campaign against what he has called “illegal DEI.” “As a result of legal developments related to board diversity requirements, we ended our formal board diversity policy,” a Goldman spokesperson confirmed to Fortune. “We continue to believe that successful boards benefit from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and we will encourage them to take this approach.”
The abandonment of Goldman’s diversity-rule era comes after the end of a similar effort at Nasdaq. The stock exchange required listed companies to meet diversity standards or disclose why they didn’t. But Nasdaq didn’t have to end its rule this year; it was already struck down by a judge in December, a decision that other businesses closely watched. (Nasdaq declined to comment this week.)
Among all the diversity measures that companies have left in the dust over the past few weeks, these were two of the most powerful. Both Goldman and Nasdaq had influence far outside the reaches of their own organizations—and, for a time, used that influence to compel businesses to meet standards to create a more equitable world. The allure of a Goldman IPO or a Nasdaq listing was enough to get companies to meet diversity benchmarks. Besides perhaps the federal government’s standards for federal contractors, these were two of the most powerful levers for diversity across the business world.
When California’s board diversity mandate was overturned in 2022, some argued that the mandate had already achieved its desired impact—companies had updated their boards to meet its standards, so it didn’t matter if its quota for board diversity was no longer in effect. But we’re now staring down the long term of a world without any of these measures—even if Democrats were back in office tomorrow, companies would likely be hesitant to risk the political winds changing again. Already, we’ve seen how fast things can change. Although Goldman only confirmed the end of its rule yesterday, Bloomberg reports that the firm had already advised on IPOs this year for at least two businesses that didn’t meet its two diverse board member requirement. Goldman says it will continue to run its board talent practice, which matches businesses with potential board members.
But meanwhile, as my colleague Sheryl Estrada reports, while some companies have ended diversity programs, many have, surprisingly, not fully abandoned their executive compensation structures that tied bonuses to hitting diversity and inclusion benchmarks. Like much of the DEI landscape, some of those pay structures are being described in different language, to relate to human capital or creating an inclusive environment, rather than diversity in hiring. Read Sheryl’s full story here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Brothers blamed. An American woman sued “manosphere” influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, alleging that the brothers lured her to Romania, coerced her into sex work, and defamed her after she testified to authorities; the brothers sued her in 2023 for defamation. This is the first lawsuit filed in the U.S. against the brothers, who have denied all accusations they face. New York Times
- Telling the House. In a speech on the House floor, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) accused her ex-fiancé and three other men of rape, abuse, and possession of nonconsensual graphic photos and videos of women and girls. Her former fiancé Patrick Bryant denied the allegations. AP
- Campaign launch. Deb Haaland, the former Interior Secretary, launched her campaign for governor of New Mexico. If elected, she would be the first Native American woman to be a governor; as Interior Secretary, she was the first ever Native American Cabinet official. NBC
- Same on the screen. Women reached on-screen gender parity with men for the first time. One study found that 42% of last year’s 100 top domestic grossing films had female protagonists—the same percentage as films with male protagonists. And another study cited 54% of last year’s top box office films as having female leads. Guardian
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Medical Review Institute of America appointed Megan Callahan as CEO and to its board of directors. Most recently, she was a healthcare operating partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe; prior to that, she served as COO at Twill.
Communications agency Codeword named Gabie Kur to partner, head of growth. She is the agency’s first female partner and was previously SVP, PR.
Google Cloud named Hayete Gallot president of customer experience. She was previously corporate VP, commercial solution areas at Microsoft.
Online travel company Priceline appointed Sejal Amin as chief technology officer. Most recently, Amin was CTO of Shutterstock.
American Airlines named Heather Garboden SVP and chief customer officer. She most recently served as the airline’s SVP of cargo business.
Narvar, which focuses on the customer experience post-purchase, appointed Tracey Solanas as SVP of global sales. Previously, she was VP of enterprise sales at VTS.
Zest AI, an AI lending technology developer, named Esther Kahng head of public policy and chief of staff. She most recently served as chief counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.
ON MY RADAR
An OpenAI whistleblower was found dead in his apartment. Now his mother wants answers Fortune
Citi just became a magnet for ambitious working moms Bloomberg
How the world fell for Sabrina Carpenter Vogue
PARTING WORDS
“Not that I like being scared and vulnerable, but I know it’s a rich place to be. And that I always am better on the other side.”
— The Substance actor Demi Moore on recognizing imperfections
