The online healthcare companies “Hims” and “Hers” lost $210 million in stock value after the CEO said he is “eager” to hire protesters who started pro-Palestinian encampments on college campuses across the nation.
“Hims” CEO Andrew Dudum is a Palestinian-American who encouraged student protesters to apply to the sex healthcare company after 2,100 people were arrested for pro-Palestinian encampments.
The stock value plummeted 8% from $12.24 per share to $11.26, according to the New York Post. The market cap of the company opened at $2.62 billion on Friday, May 3, and closed at $2.41 billion. Share prices continued to slide in after-hours trading.
The blowback followed a post in which Dudum encouraged students to continue protesting as encampments and protesters stall universities from normal activity. Several protests at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) resulted in violence among the protesters.
“Moral courage [over] College degree,” Dudum posted. “If you’re currently protesting against the genocide of the Palestinian people [and] for your university’s divestment from Israel, keep going. It’s working.”
“There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline,” he continued. Below the post was a link to the Careers page at Hims.
Dudum’s comments are a stark contrast to other CEOs who specifically said that they would not hire people who engaged in on-campus protests that led to arrests. Palantir CEO Alex Karp suggested the protesters be shipped off to North Korea as part of an exchange program.
“We’re gonna do an exchange program sponsored by Karp,” he said. “A couple months in North Korea, nice-tasting flavored barks. See how you feel about that.” Bill Ackman, head of the Pershing Square Capital Management, also stated that he wouldn’t hire students from Harvard who signed a letter blaming Israel for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
