Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) does not have a diversity problem, Ashley Pratte said in a discussion on Fox Business Network.
The comment came as the network’s personalities were discussing a comment made in jest by President Barack Obama on her wife not getting paid for the work that she does.
According to Pratte, Young America’s Foundation’s, the situation at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) or other technology firms including Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) should not be called inequality because the companies are not hiring to be diverse. They are hiring the people who can do the jobs in the company that have to be done and not hiring people to fill racial quotas, she said in a later part of the discussion.
Niel Cavuto started the discussion about Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) by saying that the company is being criticized for not having a workforce that is diverse enough. He said, however, that the last time he checked, the CEO is Marissa Meyer who is a woman. He also said, “4 out of 10 workers are minorities, women.”
Elizabeth McDonald joined the discussion by saying that companies in the technology industry including LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are having their workforce diversity scrutinized. She said that the issue is about who is getting the right degrees to fill jobs at these companies. She noted that most who graduate with the degrees needed in the industry are “Asian males”.
As for David Asman, the Fox host noted that this can be compared to the NBA. Do people think the NBA is racist because they have a shortage of white males, he asked. He also discussed how his wife does not like the word “minorities” and would rather talk about individuals.
Pratt then said that the media also looks at women as part of the minority creating another issue. She said noted that the media still says that Yahoo is not diverse even if it has a woman at the helm and has a workforce that is 39% Asian American.
Watch the discussion below.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) shareholders includes Farallon Capital managed by Thomas Steyer which had about 5.74 million shares in the company by the end of March. Another shareholder is Eric Bannasch’s Cadian Capital which reported about 4.03 million shares in the internet company in the same period.
Disclosure: None
