James Fishback, Azoria CEO and co-founder, tells ‘Fox & Friends First’ about a new ETF investing in anti-DEI companies and the goals for the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
One U.S.-based investment firm is providing a new way for Americans to cut out companies from their portfolios that prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives over bottom lines.
“I think it’ll be part of President Trump’s historic mandate, calling out these companies, calling out government practices that put hiring on race and gender as opposed to skill and merit,” Azoria co-founder and CEO James Fishback said on “Fox & Friends First,” Monday.
“Our new ETF coming out in 2025 will call out these three dozen companies not just for being unethical,” he expanded, “but for pursuing value-destructive behavior that hurts shareholders.”
Fishback’s company recently announced the rollout of its own exchange-traded funds which will include all S&P 500 stocks – except three dozen that allegedly use DEI hiring targets.
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Some of those names not included in the ETF are Starbucks, Best Buy, Vanguard and BlackRock. In a recent New York Post op-ed, Fishback clarified his stance that companies that hire on skill and merit will outperform those that hire on race and gender.
Azorias Meritocracy ETF (ticker ‘SPXM’) will at least exclude Starbucks, Vanguard, Best Buy and BlackRock. (Getty Images)
“Look, if you commit to hiring on race and gender and not merit, your stock will continue to underperform. Our ETF will call you out,” the co-founder and CEO reiterated with Fox News’ Todd Piro.
“And what we’ll do is we’ll exclude those companies in the S&P so investors can own just the companies that want to hire the best and brightest, no matter [what] they look like.”
Starbucks represented one of the obvious exclusion options for Azoria’s Meritocracy ETF (ticker ‘SPXM’), as Fishback pointed out the coffee giant first released its desired DEI timeline in 2020.
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“They announced that they wanted to achieve 30% racial and ethnic diversity. What on earth does that have to do with making a coffee at a profit in America?” he said. “You hire the best and brightest no matter what they look like. That’s how you put employees and shareholders first.”
“Over the past five years, the S&P 500 is up nearly 100%. Starbucks is up only 12%,” Fishback noted. “The espresso machines and the Wi-Fi aren’t the issues. It’s the people that are at the core of its business.”
Change begins at the top for Fishback, who called on Starbucks’ newly appointed CEO to roll back some of the brand’s “woke” quotas.
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Former Target vice chairman and Toys ‘R’ Us CEO Gerald Storch says it’s not the role of companies to get ’embroiled’ in politics and controversy on ‘Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street.’
“Brian Niccol, I have a lot of respect for him. He turned around Chipotle, he can begin to turn around Starbucks tomorrow if he wants, but he has to get rid of these hiring quotas and recommit to meritocracy.”
While the ETF’s opening date and full list of stock picks has not been announced yet, Fishback wrote in his op-ed: “To be clear, we won’t banish these anti-meritocratic companies forever.”
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