Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management

Rating Overview

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management is Medium Risk.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management is Medium Risk. The company 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. Hotchkis & Wiley 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.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Medium Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	Lower Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

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:

Medium

Rationale:

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment, incorporating ESG issues into investment analysis, decision-making, and other business practices (1)(2). However, the company has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (3).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital does not discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs (1)(2).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

The company appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its supply chain. From its Diversity Equity & Inclusion page: “By policy, future suppliers are assessed for diversity employment and ownership prior to engagement” (1). Hotchkis & Wiley Capital does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (2)(3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital supports DEI within its business practices. From its DEI webpage: “Hotchkis & Wiley is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at our firm and within the investment industry. We believe in building a team of individuals with a variety of experiences, perspectives and capabilities to produce the best outcome for clients and a compelling culture to attract and retain the most talented individuals” (1). Hotchkis & Wiley Capital supports ESG within its business practices. From its ESG Philosophy and Process: “ESG factors have long been contemplated during the normal course of our research process—even before the widespread use of the term “ESG”. While the spirit of our approach has remained largely unchanged, our process for integrating ESG factors into our analysis has been progressively formalized/enhanced over the years as ESG awareness, data, and disclosures have proliferated” (2). The company’s CEO, Scott McBride, signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which includes a commitment to promote DEI through bias education training in the workplace (3)(4). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of Hotchkis & Wiley Capital using its reputation to advance ideological causes or policies (5).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital 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:

N/A

Rationale:

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital does not operate a PAC or report on its lobbying at this time (1)(2)(3).