Some of the world’s largest financial and media companies are among those to announce an end to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, such as board diversity policies, in response to an anti-diversity push created by President Donald Trump.

Goldman Sachs has announced it has cancelled its policy to only advise public companies that had diverse board members, while Deloitte US has instructed staff working on contracts for the US government to remove pronouns from their e-mails.

Walt Disney has also announced a change in its DEI programs, which involves cutting a diversity category from its executive pay scheme.

It has also removed mentions of its ‘Reimagine Tomorrow’ programme in its annual report, which was an online space for ‘amplifying underrepresented voices’ and featured Disney’s commitment and actions to addressing diversity, equity and inclusion.

These firms are among some of the world’s largest companies to respond to a series of executive orders made by President Donald Trump, aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programmes in the federal government and private sector.

During his first few days in office, Trump signed an executive order, demanding to end what he called "radical and wasteful government DEI programmes".

Additional pressure has been placed on stock-market players after a court-ruling last December found that Nasdaq, the stock market index, did not have the authority to impose rules around the requirement for companies to have diverse boards – more specifically women and LGBTQ+ people on their boards – or to have to explain why they did not.

In a note to staff, Attorney General Pam Bondi also said that the Justice Department would "investigate, eliminate, and penalize" illegal diversity programs in the private sector.

As a result of mounting pressure to question the legality of DEI programmes, many major stock-market companies have joined the motion to roll-back DEI initiatives, in a bid to appease corporate America and to retain power in the stock market.

Disney’s board of directors received a letter from America First Legal, a company founded by Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, claiming that Disney’s efforts to boost DEI ‘harmed the company’s stock’.

Amazon, McDonald’s and Walmart have all made additional changes to DEI policies.

Despite these changes, many of the firms still reiterate the importance of diversity across their organisations as a whole.

“As a result of legal developments related to board diversity requirements, we ended our formal board diversity policy," Goldman Sachs spokesperson Tony Fratto said.

"We continue to believe that successful boards benefit from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and we will encourage them to take this approach," Fratto added.

Walt Disney has also stressed its continuing commitment to DEI.

In a memo to staff, Disney's chief human resources officer, Sonia Coleman said: "What won’t change is our commitment to fostering a company culture where everyone belongs and everyone can excel, enabling us to deliver the globally appealing entertainment that drives our business."

Last week, twelve US state attorneys general issued a joint statement opposing Trump's definition of DEI, claiming they are "committed to enforcing federal and state civil rights laws to protect" workers from discriminatory practices.

New York, California and Washington were among those to sign the statement.

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