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Three hours after Verizon (VZ+2.10%) announced it was shuttering all of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the Federal Communications Commission cleared the telecom giant’s $20 billion purchase of Texan company Frontier Communications (FYBR-0.04%).
Verizon’s capitulation is the latest in the Trump administration’s crusade against corporate DEI policies; eliminating DEI in the public sector was a top priority after President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Earlier today, Verizon said it’s immediately ending all its DEI programs across employee recruitment and training, its suppliers, and its corporate sponsorships.
The company will also terminate a management compensation plan intended to increase the number of women and minorities in its workforce. Verizon immediately scrubbed its website of all references to DEI.
Reuters (TRI+0.10%) reported that Verizon chief legal officer Vandana Venkatesh wrote a letter to FCC chair Brendan Carr, who was appointed by Trump in January; “Verizon recognizes that some DEI policies and practices could be associated with discrimination,” Venkatesh said.
In February, Carr opened a probe into Comcast (CMCSA+0.03%), the parent company of NBCUniversal, in which he called DEI a “scourge,” and used the word “invidious” — meaning “likely to cause resentment” — five times in a 700-word letter. He took issue with the idea that Comcast’s website stated a commitment to DEI as “a core value of our business.”
A month later, Carr sent a similar letter to Disney (DIS-1.33%), taking issue with its “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative and diversity goals in staffing and characters at ABC, which Disney owns.
In Carr’s statement announcing that the Frontier deal had cleared, he wrote, “The deal will allow Verizon to upgrade and expand Frontier’s existing network in 25 states,” bringing fiber-optic internet to more than one million homes.