Bud Light inadvertently ignited right-wing hysteria this spring after sending free beer to a transgender TikTok star as part of a larger marketing campaign. Despite that backlash, billionaire Mark Cuban declared this week that so-called corporate wokeness remains “good business,” since it allows companies to attract new customers. “There is a reason almost all the top ten market cap companies in the U.S. can be considered ‘woke,’” he said, seemingly in reference to technology companies like Alphabet and Apple whose values are sometimes perceived as liberal. Cuban was vague on specifics—including his definition of “woke”—but he expressed skepticism about whether short-term controversies should be taken seriously. “Most CEOs have enough experience to know to just wait out the news cycle until they go to the next one,” he said.
