The CEOs who are tearing up the policies Trump hates

The photo carried an ominous warning.

“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison," Trump said in the caption, accusing the Meta founder of steering Facebook against him during his failed 2020 re-election bid.

In recent days, Zuckerberg made moves seemingly intended for Trump to watch closely. Zuckerberg installed a veteran of the George W. Bush administration as his head of global policy, and he named Dana White—chief executive of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a friend of Trump’s—to Meta’s board of directors.

Zuckerberg’s most talked-about decision was the rollback of social-media fact-checking protocols that were introduced in the wake of Trump’s first election. The elections “feel like a cultural tipping point," Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the change.

From Meta to McDonald’s to Wall Street, America’s corporate bosses aren’t waiting for the Jan. 20 inauguration to start conforming with views favored in the Trump 2.0 universe. What began as a rush to dine with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago has snowballed into a series of policy moves that mark a shift in the business world.

Alongside the change in the White House, business leaders say the nation’s shifting legal landscape and cooling job market is spurring them to reconsider diversity programs, climate-change efforts and other Trump targets.

Companies seeking Trump’s favor have plenty to gain. Even business leaders who opposed Trump’s re-election acknowledge privately that his promises to cut regulations and taxes would be good for the bottom line.

“Corporate America is seeing an opportunity," said Jonathan Johnson, former CEO of the online retailer Overstock and a one-time Republican gubernatorial candidate in Utah. “President-elect Trump views himself as a dealmaker-in-chief more than a politician, and so that resonates well with corporate executives who are dealmakers."

The corporate reversal is as striking as Trump’s political comeback. His first term ended with an attack on the U.S. Capitol that many business leaders assumed would banish Trump from polite society. The prospect afforded many CEOs a measure of relief. During Trump’s first round in office, he routinely criticized companies, from Boeing to Nordstrom, over a variety of complaints.

During those years, the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements helped turn workplaces into proxy battlefields for charged cultural and political issues. Trump’s immigration policies and remarks on racial violence also stirred controversy.

At companies including Google and Spotify, employees expected their bosses to lean left, and proclaim it loudly. Meta suspended Trump’s Facebook account for inciting the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol four years ago and lifted it in only 2023.

This week, McDonald’s, which in 2021 said tying diversity goals to executive pay reflected “what a company’s role is in society," announced it was dropping some measures.

Disney, which in 2022 became embroiled in a fight with Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over an education bill criticized as antigay, last month settled an unrelated defamation lawsuit from Trump by agreeing to contribute $15 million to the president-elect’s future library.

Zuckerberg’s announcements, which followed a thaw in relations with Trump after last summer’s assassination attempt, drew the president-elect’s praise. “Honestly, I think they’ve come a long way," Trump said at a news conference Tuesday.

The president-elect was asked if he felt Zuckerberg had made the changes in response to his threats. “Probably," Trump said.

A Meta spokesman referred to Zuckerberg’s remarks this week about how the CEO looked forward to working with Trump to resist foreign censorship of U.S. companies. “We have the opportunity to restore free expression," Zuckerberg said, “and I’m excited to take it."

At a gathering Thursday night of Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told reporters that the change of heart among business leaders could be explained by his popular-vote mandate and a desire to “get something done."

“Jeff Bezos came. Bill Gates came. Mark Zuckerberg came," the president-elect said, ticking off the business leaders who have met with him since Election Day. “I haven’t had anybody saying anything bad about me. I’m not used to it."

To better understand how to gain Trump’s ear, some business leaders have turned to Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations who challenged Trump in the GOP presidential primaries.

Haley recommended CEOs follow what she called the Dolly Parton approach. The country music star rarely voices her personal politics, even though she has supported gay rights, Covid-19 vaccine research and other philanthropic efforts.

“Everybody loves Dolly Parton," Haley said in an interview, “and no one knows what she stands for."

Some business leaders felt shut out during the Biden administration. Many, especially in the tech industry, chafed under the close antitrust scrutiny of the Federal Trade Commission. Silicon Valley CEOs griped to one another about the lack of access to President Biden or his top aides.

Trump is a different story, said Haley, now vice chair of the public-affairs unit at communications firm Edelman. She has told CEOs they should seek face time with Trump and tout plans to add jobs or build products in the U.S. “Go in with the intent of building a relationship," Haley said. “Talk about what investing you’re going to do in the U.S."

Trump has basked in the newfound attention. “EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!" he posted last month on Truth Social.

‘Unburdened’

Trump’s election provides cover for CEOs to change policies without a public backlash, corporate advisers said.

JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America recently withdrew from an ambitious pandemic-era, U.N.-backed climate coalition designed to help businesses reduce carbon emissions. That followed exits from the coalition by Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs. BlackRock, the New York-based asset manager, announced Thursday it was quitting a similar U.N.-backed climate group.

Some bank executives privately say they never wanted to be part of the initiative, but felt strong-armed to participate by Democrats. The Trump win offers them an easy out.

“There are a lot of companies that feel—what’s the Kamala Harris word?—‘unburdened’ by the past," said David Urban, managing director of lobbying firm BGR Group and a Trump friend. “Companies just want to be in business."

It isn’t unusual for corporate bosses to reach out to a new administration, trying to anticipate how policy changes will affect their bottom line. High-stakes issues slated for Trump’s second term—including immigration restrictions, tariffs and tax rates—could fundamentally change the way their businesses operate.

One reason executives say they are more willing to embrace Trump is his more decisive victory in the 2024 election compared with the 2016 nail-biter.

Trump’s win also coincided with a softer labor market, which shifts some power away from workers. Corporate bosses say that with jobs tougher to come by, they don’t have to worry as much about losing employees upset over corporate responses—or silence—regarding political matters.

More similarity

The 2023 Supreme Court decision to ban affirmative action in college admissions has also prompted policy changes to avoid the risk of litigation or shareholder activism.

McDonald’s this week said it would end diversity goals for its employees and suppliers. In a memo explaining the changes, executives said the company had “assessed the shifting legal landscape" after the Supreme Court decision. Walmart said a few weeks after the November election that it wouldn’t renew funding for a charity it created to address racial disparities, as well as other changes to its diversity programs.

Meredith Benton, the founder of Whistle Stop Capital, which advocates for progressive social and environmental practices at companies, said both the high-court ruling and Trump’s election win have opened a new chapter in the evolving dynamic between business and politics.

For one, it has already quieted some investors. “Investors of all stripes are being more cautious about speaking up publicly," Benton said, unsure what kind of views will draw criticism.

A number of high profile officials picked to serve in the Trump administration have targeted what they cast as “woke" corporations. Stephen Miller, the incoming deputy chief of staff for Trump, headed the conservative group America First Legal, which has filed lawsuits against companies over diversity initiatives.

Harmeet Dhillon, Trump’s nominee as assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, has a history of “suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers," the president-elect said in announcing the nomination. Dhillon’s law firm represented Robby Starbuck, a social-media activist who launched campaigns against corporate diversity policies, during Starbuck’s failed 2022 bid for a congressional seat in Tennessee.

Executives also say that Trump’s victory in the popular vote reflects a majority view among Americans and that they are acting accordingly. A Pew Research Center survey in the fall found that American workers’ support of corporate diversity efforts has softened.

Among those polled, 52% said improving diversity at work was mainly a good thing compared with 56% in early 2023. Among Republican and Republican-leaning workers responding to the poll, disapproval rose to 42% from 30% during the same period.

Mar-a-Lago meetups

Corporate advisers say they have been struck by the urgency of executives trying to connect with Trump and his circle, in the expectation that the new administration will move swiftly.

“Businesses are looking now and saying there is a lot of change that is on the table, and it’s not small things, it’s big things," said Tom Leppert, a former Republican mayor of Dallas who also once ran companies such as construction giant Turner and the education company Kaplan.

Private jets shuttled a line of CEOs to Mar-a-Lago soon after Election Day. Then came a cascade of $1 million corporate donations to Trump’s inauguration fund from such behemoths as Amazon, Uber and Meta, as well as smaller players, including telehealth brand Hims & Hers.

The seven-figure donations follow a shrewd political calculus, a relatively small price for a public gesture of goodwill to the new administration, public affairs executives said. Donors who give $1 million receive six tickets to inaugural events, including a reception with cabinet appointees, a “candlelight dinner" with Trump and Melania Trump and a black-tie ball.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and members of his C-suite held a meeting at Mar-a-Lago this week, which the company has done in past years, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bourla was also among pharmaceutical industry officials who met with Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago in December.

Amazon’s Prime Video announced in the past week that it would stream a forthcoming documentary on Melania Trump. Amazon won the distribution rights over rival studios, including Disney and Paramount, according to a person familiar with the matter. The competition was driven by the strong sales of her recent memoir, “Melania," the person said.

After trading insults with Trump in the past, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos traveled with his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, to Mar-a-Lago for dinner with Trump. Bezos also blocked the editorial board at the Washington Post, which he owns, from endorsing a presidential candidate, costing the newspaper around a quarter of a million subscriptions at the time.

In their meetings at Mar-a-Lago, some corporate leaders have expressed relief to the president and his team that the pressure on diversity programs will ease, according to people familiar with the discussions, and they can go back to core business responsibilities.

Business advisers point out that Trump and executives are in a honeymoon phase that might change once he takes office and, for instance, follows through on promises of mass deportations. During Trump’s first term, executives joined in public statements criticizing the administration’s policies on immigration and other heated topics.

This time, these advisers say, the bar for dissent will likely be much higher. CEOs might speak up if Trump does something to challenge the rule of law or make it impossible for businesses to operate, according to an executive in charge of communications at one multinational company.

Otherwise, he said, he expects businesses to remain largely quiet over the next four years.

Alex Leary, Gina Heeb, Sarah Nassauer and Jared Hopkins contributed to this article.

Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com and Chip Cutter at chip.cutter@wsj.com