Starwood Capital Group - 1792 Exchange

Corporate Bias Rating

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Risk Level:

Medium Risk

Summary:

Starwood often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. Starwood occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

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Criteria

Risk Level

Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level

Rationale

Starwood integrates ESG into all of its business practices. The company stated, “At Starwood Capital Group, we are committed to integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles across our corporate operations and throughout our investment process” (1)(2)(3). Its investment team works “collaboratively to coordinate the integration of select environmental, social and governance value creation opportunities into our underwriting and asset management process” to “advance its commitment to sustainability and responsible corporate citizenship” (4). However, Starwood has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (5).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level

Rationale

Starwood’s charitable giving guidelines require that organizations abide by its nondiscrimination policy, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, thereby excluding some religious charities (1)(2).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level

Rationale

Starwood requires annual discrimination training (1). The company is a signatory of the Institutional Limited Partners Association’s Diversity in Action Initiative, committing itself to specific actions that advance DEI within the governance and policies of the organization and the private equity industry more broadly (2)(3)(4). Starwood does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (5).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level

Rationale

Starwood has not supported ideological causes or policies (1).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level

Rationale

Starwood has not used corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (1).

Criteria

Uses corporate political actions and/or financial contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level

Rationale

Starwood does not operate a PAC at this time but has lobbied for the Equality Act (1)(2)(3).

Board Bias

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1792 Exchange has not yet compiled data about the board of directors or political contributions of leadership for this company.