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Costco (COST) defends DEI efforts, touts benefits of staff diversity. (00:27) Famed short research firm Hindenburg Research shutting down. (01:35) U.S. should reconsider Chevron’s (CVX) oil presence in Venezuela, Rubio tells hearing. (02:30)
This is an abridged transcript.
While Corporate America is increasingly scaling back diversity programs, Costco (NASDAQ:COST) has refused to back down and instead, touted how its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have helped improve financial performance.
The warehouse retailer urged its shareholders to reject a proposal by conservative think tank National Center for Public Policy Research to evaluate the risks of maintaining its DEI policies.
“It’s clear that DEI holds litigation, reputational and financial risks to the company, and therefore financial risks to shareholders,” NCPPR’s proposal read. “Costco likely has at least 200,000 employees who are potentially victims of this type of illegal discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight.”
“Our board has considered this proposal and believes that our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary,” Costco (NASDAQ:COST) said in its proxy statement ahead of its annual shareholder meeting on January 23.
It said its DEI efforts enhance its capacity to attract and retain employees, while staff and supplier diversity fosters creativity and innovation in its merchandise offerings.
“And we believe (and member feedback shows) many of our members like to see themselves reflected in the people in our warehouses with whom they interact,” the company noted. “Combined with our obedience to the law, service to our employees, members and suppliers has rewarded our shareholders.”
Hindenburg Research is closing its doors.
The founder, Nate Anderson wrote in a posting on the firm’s website, “As I’ve shared with family, friends and our team since late last year, I have made the decision to disband Hindenburg Research.”
The statement went on to say, “The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on. And as of the last Ponzi cases we just completed and are sharing with regulators, that day is today.”
Hindenburg gained much notoriety in recent years for its short reports on companies including Nikola (NKLA), billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises (IEP), and most recently Super Micro Computer (SMCI) and Carvana (CVNA).
“So, why disband now? There is not one specific thing—no particular threat, no health issue, and no big personal issue,” Anderson wrote.
The Hindenburg closure comes as other prominent short sellers have also shuttered or been targeted by regulators in recent years. Prominent short seller Jim Chanos shut down his hedge fund in 2023 and the Securities and Exchange Commission sued short seller Andrew Left and his firm Citron Capital, in July.
Secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio said Wednesday during congressional testimony that The U.S. should reconsider Chevron’s (NYSE:CVX) sanctions waiver that allows the company to operate in Venezuela.
The Florida senator told fellow senators at his confirmation hearing that the Biden administration “got played” in negotiations with Venezuelan President Maduro that allowed him to hold “completely fake” elections in return for granting oil licenses.
Rubio, considered a shoo-in to be confirmed as incoming President Trump’s secretary of state, criticized “general licenses where companies like Chevron are actually providing billions of dollars of money into the regime’s coffers, and the regime kept none of the promises that they made… so all that needs to be re-explored.”
Chevron (CVX), the only U.S. oil producer still operating in Venezuela, produced ~180K bbl/day in the country as of mid-2024.
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Now let’s take a look at the markets ahead of the opening bell. Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is down 0.1% at $79/barrel. Bitcoin is up 2.4% at $99,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.8% and the DAX is flat.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM) shares jumped over 4% after the company posted strong Q4 results, with revenue up 39% Y/Y and net profit surging 57% on robust demand for AI hardware.
On today’s economic calendar:
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