On Tuesday, Azoria CEO and founder James Fishback announced a new “anti-DEI” index fund that rejects woke policies and will invest solely in companies that engage in hiring practices based on merit.
Fishback told Fox News Digital, “It is the first ever index fund that is committed solely to meritocracy, so unlike a traditional S&P 500 ETF from BlackRock or Vanguard, we do not invest in companies that impose DEI hiring targets, Nike, Starbucks, Intel, Airbnb. There’s 37 in total and the reason why we don’t invest with them is that these are both a moral and a financial failure.”
Fishback is an ally of President Donald Trump and a former Department of Government Efficiency advisor who proposed mailing Americans stimulus checks based off of DOGE savings. He told Fox News Digital he launched the “Azoria Meritocracy Fund” in the hope of getting investors bigger returns than what they would get from ETFs that buy shares in companies that have DEI hiring quotas.
To Fishback, his fund is not pursuing a political agenda, but just engaging in good business sense.
“Research that we just published today shows that the 37 companies in the S&P 500 that we exclude from the Azoria 500 meritocracy fund underperformed the S&P by 19 percentage points over the last two years. It’s no surprise why, they prevent companies from hiring the best. They force them to hire folks who are not yet qualified, and lastly, they weaken employee trust and morale. All of that leads to lower stock returns in the long-term,” Fishback said.
“We’re making, really, a financial bet here that companies that hire on skill and merit will be more successful than companies that hire on race and gender.”
In a post on X, Fishback shared his vision: “Our anti-DEI ETF just began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ‘SPXM.’”
“The Azoria 500 Meritocracy ETF invests in the top 500 American companies *except* those that impose DEI hiring targets such as:
Nike, which mandates ‘35% representation of racial and ethnic minorities in its U.S. corporate workforce,’
Airbnb, which requires that ’20 percent of US employees will identify as underrepresented minorities.’
Intel, which obligates ‘25% representation of women in senior leadership roles.’”
“DEI hiring targets like these hurt stock returns. They prevent companies from hiring the best, force them to hire under-qualified workers, and weaken employee trust and morale.”
“SPXM’s premise is simple: companies that hire on skill and merit will be more successful than those that hire on race and gender.”
“Until SPXM, Americans had no way to exclude DEI losers from their standard S&P 500 ETF. Now they do.”
“SPXM is available on any brokerage platform where you invest in stocks or ETFs.”
“Every dollar invested in SPXM sends a powerful message to corporate America: Americans deserve dignity in employment.”
“No one should be reduced to an arbitrary diversity target, nor excluded because they don’t happen to meet one. Here’s the truth: every American—no matter their race or gender—is capable of greatness. No one needs a DEI target to succeed.”
Watch:
Our anti-DEI ETF just began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “SPXM.”
The Azoria 500 Meritocracy ETF invests in the top 500 American companies *except* those that impose DEI hiring targets such as:
Nike, which mandates “35% representation of racial and… pic.twitter.com/QEpU1OEVul
— James Fishback (@j_fishback) July 8, 2025
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