“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary tanked his co-host’s claim that going woke is “good business,” despite the billions of dollars companies such as Target and Anheuser-Busch have lost for doing just that.
“Makes absolutely no sense,” O’Leary told “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday.
(Video: Fox News)
Speaking to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday, Dallas Mavericks owner and “Shark Tank” co-host Mark Cuban argued, “There is a reason almost all the top ten market cap companies in the U.S. can be considered ‘woke.’ It’s good business.”
O’Leary begged to differ.
“When you’re Disney or you’re a beer company or you’re Target, you have customers of every kind,” he explained. “Republicans, Democrats, gender-specific or gender-neutral — it doesn’t matter. You want to sell everybody everything all of the time.”
“When you get involved in partisan issues, you basically lose 50% of your constituency,” O’Leary continued. “Why you would do that when you’re a consumer goods or service company, everybody’s learning, makes absolutely no sense.”
As BizPac Review reported, Target’s controversial “Pride” collection resulted in a downgrade of the company’s stock by JPMorgan Chase, as conservative consumers vow to take their business elsewhere.
On Twitter, Elon Musk predicted lawsuits will be filed.
“Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value,” he tweeted.
Musk predicts shareholder lawsuits for Target as backlash batters ‘woke’ retail giant https://t.co/WXoGUlwnTb via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) June 6, 2023
In a recent podcast, Joe Rogan stated that Target and Bud Light have lost billions because Americans are done with their “woke sh*t.”
“We never saw that before where people are going ‘Enough. Enough. Stop shoving this down everybody’s throat,'” Rogan said. “When I go to Target, I don’t wanna see like f***ing tuck pants. They’re designed to help you tuck your dick. Like, hey, that’s not normal and I don’t want that right in front of everybody.”
Rogan says Target, Bud Light are suffering billions in losses because people have had enough: ‘Hey, that’s not normal’ https://t.co/1pbNBcQtO6 via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) June 10, 2023
According to Cuban, the boycotts of progressive companies are just a phase that experienced CEOs should wait out.
“Most CEOs have enough experience to know to just wait out the news cycle until they go to the next one,” he told the Post-Gazette.
Not so, said O’Leary.
“The role of a business, a corporation in America for the last 200 years, has been to serve customers, their employees and their shareholders,” he told “Fox & Friends.”
“Their role is not to educate society on the social issue of the day. They’re learning that very quickly,” he added.
“And in the case of business, you can measure it by the second when they’re public by the stock price. When you lose nine, 10, 11, $12 billion of market cap, you know that you’ve offended somebody and that person is your customer,” he continued. “That’s bad business. Really bad business.”
On Twitter, many are on Team O’Leary.
“In a world of Marks, be a Kevin,” wrote one user. “Kevin > Mark.”
In a world of Marks, be a Kevin.
Kevin > Mark https://t.co/55krhWGNJh
— Daughter of Zion ✝️ (@PeeksKyra) June 14, 2023
They don’t call him Mr. Wonderful for nothing! He calls it like it is!
— Larry Mullinax (@Ponderosa3609) June 14, 2023
Business 101
Make money, not enemies— Michael David (@michaeldavid351) June 14, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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