Top CEOs are considering cutting off funding to Republicans who have supported Trump's election challenge, according to Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

Grace Dean

  • CEOs of major companies have said they may stop giving money to Republicans who have backed President Donald Trump's challenge of the election results, according to Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.

  • Sonnenfeld, the founder of Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute, told CNBC that he hosted a call on Tuesday with 33 chief executives across sectors including finance, pharmacy, transportation, and manufacturing.

  • About nine in 10 CEOs on the call were "talking about cutting off support," he said. "We haven't seen them put the money where their mouth is previously, and that's a big change," he added.

  • Congress is scheduled to formally certify the election result on Wednesday, confirming President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Trump has refused to recognize the result.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Top CEOs may withdraw financial support from Republicans who have backed President Donald Trump's challenge to the election result, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the founder of Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute, said Tuesday.

More than two dozen CEOs are considering such a move, he told CNBC's "Closing Bell."

Sonnenfeld, a senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management, said he hosted a call earlier that day with 33 chief executives across sectors including finance, pharmacy, transportation, and manufacturing. About nine in 10 CEOs on the call were "talking about cutting off support," he said.

"We haven't seen them put the money where their mouth is previously, and that's a big change," Sonnenfeld said.

Sonnenfeld declined to name the CEOs but said they included previous Business Roundtable and Chamber of Commerce leaders.

Congress is scheduled to formally certify the election result on Wednesday, confirming President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. Trump has refused to concede, and on Monday he told supporters at a rally that he hoped Vice President Mike Pence would help him overturn the result.

Trump Biden
President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images, Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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Sonnenfeld said the CEOs had contacted him to arrange a meeting after he organized a similar one in November when Trump first disputed the election result.

During Tuesday's call, the CEOs said they wanted to move beyond making statements and "put our money where our mouth is," Sonnenfeld said. He added that nearly nine in 10 CEOs said Trump was "trying to overturn democratically run elections to stay in office."

He said the CEOs told him that the situation was causing "divided communities, angry workforces, and hostile workplaces" and that "this is not business as usual."

"The GOP acting this way - these GOP members are certainly not the voice of American business, large or small. So they're talking about cutting off support," Sonnenfeld told CNBC.

Separately, more than 170 American business executives signed a letter Monday urging Congress to certify the result on Wednesday and confirm Biden's victory.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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