DEI is everywhere these days. Perhaps you attended Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training at work or heard the loaded term “DEI hire” on cable news. Advocates argue diversity initiatives dismantle systemic biases that keep the best workers from being hired and promoted. Critics say these programs are discriminatory and leave white workers behind. Executives and board directors have had to walk a fine line, but ultimately, they report to shareholders. As this year’s proxy voting season approached, the business community wondered: Would investors vote to dismantle or defend DEI? 

The answer was unequivocal. Over 20 shareholder resolutions were filed this year asking iconic companies to end DEI programs, including at Visa, Deere, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Levi’s, American Express, Coca-Cola, Berkshire Hathaway, McDonalds, Amazon, Netflix, Walmart, Alphabet, American Airlines, Caterpillar, Best Buy, and Mastercard. Across these annual meetings, over $9.8 trillion in share value voted with management to continue DEI policies and programs. 

Proposals from one serial anti-DEI filer asked companies to “terminate all DEI policies and programs that grant or deny employment or advancement opportunities based on race, sex, or other protected characteristics.” On the surface, few would argue that opportunity should not be based on race or sex, but the underlying intent of anti-DEI resolutions was to exploit racist and misogynistic tropes with little regard for the business. 

Defending DEI

Apple CEO Tim Cook, known for measured statements, reminded shareholders that innovation thrives on diverse perspectives: “Our strength has always come from hiring the very best people and then providing a culture of collaboration, one where people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives come together to innovate and create something magical.” The anti-DEI proposal presented at Apple was overwhelmingly defeated by 98% of shareholders. 

At Disney, executives stood firm against anti-DEI proposals that sought to withdraw the company from diversity benchmarks. The message from Disney leadership was clear: Diverse voices and stories are not a political statement—they are core to the magic that captivates global audiences. Disney’s shareholders agreed, rejecting the proposal with nearly 99% opposition. 

Across Pfizer, Goldman Sachs, Costco, and other major corporations, the trend could not have been more obvious: Anti-DEI proposals “landed with a notable thud” as shareholders stood firm with management with an average 98% votes against ending diversity programs. The votes were extraordinary considering a group of conservative attorneys general threatened shareholders that voting against anti-DEI resolutions could be illegal. 

Driving growth

The near-unanimous votes reflected deep shareholder trust in the boards and executives who defended DEI publicly and forcefully. When investors have near-unanimous alignment with management—including the assertion that diversity programs drive growth, innovation, and long-term value—executives and the board have the strongest possible mandate to cement DEI as a corporate imperative. 

Far from being swayed by political theater, shareholders sided decisively with the evidence. For example, the Diversity Dividend report from my organization, As You Sow, analyzed 1,641 U.S. companies over five years (2016–2022.) Results showed a statistically significant correlation between diverse management teams and superior financial outcomes, including enterprise value growth rate, free cash flow per share, return on invested capital, and 10-year total revenue compound annual growth rate. Results were so conclusive that investors would have been in breach of their fiduciary duty if they supported proposals to end DEI. 

For these financial reasons, high-profile business leaders have publicly supported diversity programs despite potential political backlash. Costco, for instance, effectively defended its DEI programs, resulting in stable growth and improved employee morale. Conversely, Target, which relented to DEI criticism from social media activists, experienced drops in employee satisfaction and weaker sales. As a general rule, companies that followed legal advice not to capitulate to DEI attacks saw higher reputation scores in 2025. 

Diversity on the rise

In my recent Fortune op-ed, I argued that beneath the heated rhetoric, both proponents and critics actually agree on a fundamental point: Meritocracy should rule. No serious advocate for diversity programs argues against hiring the best candidate for the job. Rather, the debate hinges on whether the playing field is truly level. DEI initiatives aim to remove unseen barriers and unconscious bias, ensuring meritocracy functions as intended.  

Thanks to well-funded anti-DEI crusaders, a once-obscure acronym for corporate diversity programs is now part of the cultural lexicon. In targeting companies with lawsuits, executive orders, legislation, and shareholder resolutions, the politically motivated campaign hell-bent on stopping the erosion of white dominance forced C-suites and boardrooms across America to articulate—sometimes for the first time—why diversity is essential to financial performance. 

The 2025 proxy season affirmed diversity as an essential business principle grounded in business data, immune to fleeting political pressures. The dramatic confrontations that played out at over 20 companies solidified DEI’s place in the corporate world. For investors, executives, and employees alike, the message was loud and unmistakable: Corporate diversity programs aren’t going away—they are stronger than ever.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune. 

K-Pop superstars BTS are officially coming back next year, marking the end of a hiatus that started in 2022.

The HYBE-signed group revealed during a live stream on superfan platform Weverse today (July 1) that they will release a new album and embark on a world tour in the spring of 2026.

The announcement confirms reports published last month about a March 2026 return for the group.

All seven members of BTS appeared live together during the Weverse livestream, their first joint livestream since completing their mandatory military service.

During the livestream, the group revealed that starting this month, all members will head to the United States to begin working on new music.

“We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.”

BTS

The members said: “We’ll be releasing a new BTS album in the spring of next year. Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music.

“Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.”

Alongside the release of their new album in 2026, BTS are also set to embark on what their label calls a “massive” world tour.

They added: “We’re also planning a world tour alongside the new album. We’ll be visiting fans all around the world, so we hope you’re as excited as we are.”

This will be BTS’s first world tour in approximately four years since the conclusion of ‘BTS PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE’ in 2022.

The tour drew over 4 million attendees/viewers across in-person concerts, online live streaming, live viewing, and live play.

Additionally, BTS shared updates on their upcoming activities for the second half of 2025.

The members reflected on the Korean leg of Jin’s solo tour, ‘#RUNSEOKJIN_EP.TOUR,’ which took place in Goyang, Korea on June 28–29.

Following the ‘j-hope Tour ‘HOPE ON THE STAGE,’’ j-hope is slated to headline Lollapalooza Berlin on July 13.

Today’s livestream marked BTS’s first live broadcast since September 2022. It lasted approximately 30 minutes and garnered over 7.3 million real-time total views.

BTS are RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook. They debuted in 2013. The group has scored six No.1 Billboard Hot 100 singles since 2020, and performed multiple sold-out stadium shows across the world.

They were also named TIME’s Entertainer of the Year 2020. BTS are 5-time Grammy nominees (63rd to 65th GRAMMY Awards) and have been recognized with numerous awards like the Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards (Artist of the Year 2021) and MTV Video Music Awards.

BTS were historically HYBE’s biggest earners. News of their break as a group in 2022 rattled investors, with the company’s shares falling by around 25% that day, wiping around $1.5 billion from HYBE’s market cap value in the process.

With the group’s absence, HYBE’s operating profit dropped 37.5% YoY to KRW 184.82 billion ($135.55 million) in FY 2024, which the company attributed to, among other factors, “BTS‘ temporary break.”

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Macquarie has agreed to inject up to £1.2bn of fresh equity into struggling utility Southern Water as part of a recapitalisation that will result in the debt owed to its holding company lenders being cut by more than half.

Southern’s Australian owner will initially pump £655mn of equity into the company — which provides water and sewerage services to 4.7mn customers in the south-east of England.

Macquarie intends to provide a minimum of £245mn in additional equity by December, a sum that could rise to as much as £545mn.

As part of the deal Macquarie has also agreed a debt restructuring with lenders to Southern Water’s holding companies, which will apply significant haircuts to the riskiest bonds in the group’s multi-tiered financial structure.

While Southern’s finances are in a less precarious position than those of Thames Water, the UK’s largest water utility that was previously owned by Macquarie, it is still on a watchlist of financially stressed companies monitored by the regulator, Ofwat. It has come under pressure in debt markets over concerns it could breach its covenants.

Southern also faces a backlash from the general public for sewage outflows at some of the UK’s most popular beaches, including Brighton and Whitstable, and is at risk of water shortages after years of under-investment. The company has considered importing water from the Norwegian fjords.

By 2030 Southern will raise annual customer bills by £222 to £642, the largest increase agreed between any of the UK’s 11 privatised water and sewage companies and the regulator. This bill increase comes on top of other inflation-linked rises.

Southern has appealed to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to be able to increase bills even further over the next five years to help it finance upgrades.

Meanwhile, the company paid chief executive Lawrence Gosden a £183,000 bonus last year, helping to boost his total pay by 79 per cent to £764,200.

Southern announced on Tuesday that the debt across its holding companies would be reduced from £865mn to £415mn. There are two main tiers of debt above Southern’s operating company, which sit at a middle holding company and a top holding company respectively.

Bondholders including Ares Management and Australian infrastructure investor Westbourne Capital have agreed to a full writedown of their roughly £370mn of debt, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In return, they will receive an “equity-like” investment in the water company, the person added, in an arrangement similar to a debt-for-equity swap, in which these bondholders receive a minority stake in the business.

Bondholders at the middle holding company will see no impairment to the face value of their debt, the person said, but have agreed to change the terms of the debt and extend its maturity.

The maturities of the remaining debt facilities are being extended to at least September 2030, according to the announcement on Tuesday.

The writedowns are seen as a way to allow new equity to flow directly into the utility’s heavily-indebted operating company, rather than being used to service debt further up the capital structure.

In February, Macquarie committed to injecting £900mn of fresh equity into Southern, an increase on the £650mn it had promised previously.

“This additional equity investment demonstrates our commitment to Southern Water and its management team, and our belief that the planned investment programme will deliver for its customers and the environment,” said Martin Bradley, a senior managing director at Macquarie Asset Management.