After drawing fire from employees, Amazon adopts board diversity rule

Last week, Amazon was in the spotlight for resisting a new rule that would require its board to consider women and nonwhite people for boardroom positions. Today, the company has confirmed that it has adopted this rule.

An Amazon spokesperson provided Fast Company with this statement:

I can confirm that the Amazon Board of Directors has adopted a policy that the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee include a slate of diverse candidates, including women and minorities, for all director openings. This policy formalizes a practice already in place.

Recode reports that Amazon’s VP of public policy, Brian Huseman, wrote to the Congressional Black Caucus, saying “[w]e reached this decision after listening to your feedback as well as that from Amazon employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders about the Board diversity proposal.”

It seems the external pressure led the company codify this new procedure. You can read about the company’s initial resistance to the policy here.