Citigroup Won’t Shoot Straight About Discriminating Against Gun Companies

Citigroup’s getting asked some hard questions about the fiscal sanity of their decision to discriminate against firearms businesses, and their answers aren’t likely to soothe investors.

Justin Danhof, general counsel for the National Center Public Policy Research and Free Enterprise Project, posed a simple question in a shareholder meeting: “Can you tell us—your investors—exactly how much money we stand to lose because of this decision, and explain why you have this right while Warren Buffet has this wrong?”

Danhof was referencing Buffett’s 2018 refusal to impose his political views on investors. The “Oracle of Omaha,” who runs Berkshire Hathaway, rebuffed antagonist Andrew Ross Sorkin when he read a shareholder question during a CNBC interview about doing business with gun manufacturers.

“I don’t believe in imposing my political opinions on the activities of our businesses,” he said. Earlier in 2018, he stated his position just as clearly: “I don’t believe in imposing my views on 370,000 employees and a million shareholders. I’m not their nanny on that.”