Over the past few weeks, more than 300 U.S. and multinational companies have cut ties with Russia because of its military invasion of Ukraine. The list is growing quickly.
But even though many people are leaving, a few big-name companies haven’t said a word about it.
Some of them are popular in the United States, like Dunkin’ Donuts, Subway, and Mondelez (MDLZ). On the list of companies that haven’t stopped or cut back on their investments in Russia, the hotel chain Marriott (MAR) is also on the list.
Since Vladimir Putin started his war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, around 330 companies have left Russia in protest, according to a list put together by Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team. This has led to 2 million refugees and more than 1,000 civilian deaths, the UN says. There are still 39 companies in the country, even though there is a lot of pressure to stop them.
It says in the research by Sonnenfeld and his co-workers that Dunkin’ Donuts has 150 locations in Russia, while Subway has more than 446 locations in the country. Mondelez, the American multinational food and beverage Market that owns brands like Oreo, Ritz, and Chips Ahoy!, has a bigger footprint in the country that it hasn’t given up yet. About 3.5 percent of Mondelez’s sales come from Russia, which is about $1 billion.
Walnut Creek, California, United States – October 9, 2018: The Marriott hotel in downtown Walnut Creek, California, at night.
While Marriott International makes $440 million a year from its Russian operations, Sonnenfeld’s data shows that 4.3 percent of that money comes from there.
Coty, AbbVie, and Citrix are some of the U.S. companies that haven’t stopped doing business in Russia, but the list is still changing (CTXS).
Burger King, which Sonnenfeld says has more than 800 franchise locations in Russia, is the latest fast-food restaurant to stop giving money to the country because of the war. Its parent company, Restaurant Brands International, said Thursday that it will no longer give money to the country because of the war.
When the company came late to the party but paid attention to what people said, it joined McDonald’s Corporation, Starbucks (SBUX), Coca-Cola (KO), and PepsiCo (PEP).
The CEO of McDonald’s said Tuesday that “We serve millions of Russian customers every day who rely on McDonald’s.” Then, at the same time, our values say that we can’t just ignore the people in Ukraine who are suffering needlessly.
New research from MKM Partners says that McDonald’s will lose $50 million a month by stopping business in Russia.
Sonnenfeld’s list can be found here. It is updated every hour to keep up with changes made by companies in real time.
“When this list was first put up on Feb. 28, only a few dozen companies had said they were leaving,” he said on the website.
Add Comment