McDonald’s announced Monday that it has begun the process of selling its Russian business, which includes 850 restaurants employing 62,000 people, making it the latest major Western corporation to leave Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February.
Holding onto its business in Russia “is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values,” the fast-food giant said, citing the humanitarian crisis caused by the war.
In early March, the Chicago-based company announced that it would temporarily close its stores in Russia but would continue to pay employees. On Monday, it announced that it would seek to have a Russian buyer hire and pay those employees until the sale was completed. It did not identify a potential buyer.
The “dedication and loyalty to McDonald’s” of employees and hundreds of Russian suppliers, according to CEO Chris Kempczinski, made the decision to leave difficult.
McDonald’s said it plans to begin removing golden arches and other symbols and signs bearing the company’s name as it tries to sell its restaurants. It has stated that it will keep its trademarks in Russia.
More than three decades ago, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first McDonald’s in Russia opened in the heart of Moscow. It was a powerful symbol of the United States and Soviet Union’s de-escalation of Cold War tensions.
https://www.tvcnews.tv/2022/05/emirates-to-adopt-bitcoin-as-payment-option/Other American food and beverage conglomerates, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Starbucks, have paused or closed operations in Russia in response to Western sanctions.
