Elon Musk and Mark Cuban clashed late on Wednesday over the value of diversity, equity and inclusion programs within US companies following the resignation of Harvard’s first Black president.
Critics of Claudine Gay, who condemned “tired racial stereotypes” in the campaign against her presidency, speculated she had benefited from Harvard’s focus on diversity, rather than her credentials.
Musk, the world’s richest man, who employs thousands of people at Tesla, SpaceX, and X, formerly Twitter, claimed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) was “just another word for racism” in a post to his social network.
Cuban, the entrepreneur and investor who rose to prominence as owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team and star of the reality TV show Shark Tank, rejected Musk’s argument. Such initiatives are good for business, he wrote in a series of posts, enabling companies to find the best employees, getting the best out of workers, and increasing productivity by reducing “unnecessary” stress.
“Good businesses look where others don’t,” Cuban, 65, wrote. “You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various races, ethnicities, orientation, etc that are regularly excluded from hiring consideration.”
Musk was responding to an essay by Bill Ackman, the hedge fund tycoon and Harvard donor who had been one of the most prominent critics of Gay. Ackman wrote that he believed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts were “racist” and dangerous, that he was concerned about “reverse racism” and “racism against white people”, and that he saw DEI as “a powerful movement that has not only pervaded Harvard, but the educational system at large” and which needed to be opposed.
“Shame on anyone who uses” the term DEI, Musk, 52, wrote on Wednesday in response to Ackman. When one user of X said they did not think DEI was akin to racism, Musk replied: “Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism.”
Cuban said Musk was losing out. “By extending our hiring search to include them, we can find people that are more qualified. The loss of DEI-phobic companies is my gain,” he said.
DEI programs – from hiring initiatives to anti-bias training – are intended to diversify organizations and tackle inequality.
Cuban elaborated on his rebuttal of Musk by waxing philosophical on what it means to be a good employer. Equity is a “core principle of business”, he said. “Put your employees in a position to succeed. Recognize their differences and play to their strengths where ever possible.”
Inclusion efforts were focused on ensuring that “all employees, no matter who they are or how they see themselves, feel comfortable in their environment and able to do their jobs,” he wrote.
Following Cuban’s tweets, Musk wrote: “Cool, so when should we expect to see a short white/Asian women on the Mavs?”
Ackman himself chimed in late on Thursday, bringing the debate between billionaires full circle with a remark to Cuban: “That’s exactly what I thought until I did the work. I encourage you to do the same and revert. DEI is not about diversity, equity or inclusion. Trust me. I fell for the same trap you did.”
Musk replied: “Yup.”
