February 4, 2025
Maybe this will change their minds….
Reuters reports that Target shareholders are suing the brand for allegedly failing to predict the risks of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and social initiatives.
Led by Florida’s City of Riviera Beach Police Pension Fund, the class action suit from shareholders claims the Minnesota-based retailer defrauded them into paying heightened prices for its stock while unknowingly supporting management’s “misuse of investor funds to serve political and social goals.”
The backlash from the DEI drawback resulted in consumers, particularly Black customers, limiting shopping at stores and causing the stock to plummet.
The suit blames CEO Brian Cornell and other officials for failing to mention the risk of boycotts correlated to Target’s Environmental, Social, and Governance and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. Target, known for an extensive Black History Month campaign and backing Black creators like lifestyle influencer Tabitha Brown, also received backlash for pulling back on its May 2023 Pride Month campaign.
Following a series of in-store confrontations that had employees fearing for their safety, Target removed some LGBTQ-themed merchandise while the shareholders alleged the company covered the backlash. In November 2024, Target’s share price fell by 22%, destroying close to $15.7 billion of market value after a disappointing profit and holiday sales forecast.
According to Newsweek, shareholder Brian Craig quoted an article from Bloomberg labeling Target as the store of the “boomer mom who drives a minivan and lives in the suburbs.” He said that company directors “betrayed both Target’s core customer base of working families and its investors by making false and misleading statements concerning Target’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mandates that led to its disastrous 2023 children-and-family themed LGBTPride campaign.”
Target is one of several Fortune 500 companies, including McDonald’s, Walmart, John Deere, and Tractor Supply, Co., that have dialed back their DEI policies under pressure from the Trump-Vance administration, who labeled such initiatives “racist.” With the support of several Republican lawmakers and leaders who have pushed their states to do the same, one of the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump eliminated federal DEI programs, placing hundreds of employees on leave or out of a job.
Several civil rights and religious leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton and Atlanta’s Pastor Jamal Bryant have called for Black customers to boycott Target and other stores, eliminating initiatives that cater to them.
The law firm representing the shareholders is Grant & Eisenhofer, who, in a statement, said they are encouraging a lead plaintiff to join the lawsuit. “If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court by no later than April 1, 2025, which is the lead plaintiff deadline that was established by publication of this notice on January 31, 2025,” the statement read.
“You do not need to seek to become a lead plaintiff to share in any possible recovery.”
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