Oak View Group - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Oak View Group is Medium Risk.

Oak View Group (OVG) 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. OVG 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	Lower Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	No Data
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	Lower Risk

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:

Lower

Rationale:

OVG has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (1).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

N/A

Rationale:

OVG does not publish charitable giving guidelines (1).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

OVG requires its employees to take DEI training and offers DEI workshops. It also has DEI Safe Zones, and a monthly newsletter (1). OVG appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its recruitment. From its anti-racism statement: “OVG will recruit more People of Color…diversify and enhance the talent pipeline that will help increase Black and Latinx representation in our workforce” (2)(3). OVG integrates DEI into its business practices. The company created a Supplier Diversity program that vets vendors based on whether they are “a company/trader owned and managed at least 51% by a non-white minority” (4). OVG 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:

High

Rationale:

OVG supports DEI within its business practices, employing a DEI Council and a Vice President of DEI. From its anti-racism statement: “anti-racism is not simply an organizational value – it lives in the fabric of our organization” (1)(2). OVG is aligned with the Climate Pledge, which entails a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2040. It created a zero-emissions venue and established Green Operations and Advanced Leadership (GOAL), an organization focused on eliminating venue emissions (3)(4).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

OVG provides a benefits package for employees that covers travel costs for an abortion (1)(2). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of OVG using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (3).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

OVG does not operate a PAC at this time and has not used its lobbying for ideological purposes (1)(2)(3).