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McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

corporate.mcdonalds.com

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Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#51

Post by throwaway290 »

mupuff1234 wrote: post #8

Can you sell the Russian business without violating the sanctions?

IANAL but Russia is legal to do business with with exception of certain corporate entities and individuals. There's a deny-list, not an allow-list.

Unfortunately, since the latest war the deny-list has grown substantially (making it a bit difficult to ensure you aren't accidentally servicing someone involved with a sanctioned entity), combined with political pressure this prompted some businesses to go an extra mile and cease operations in Russia completely.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#53

Post by klausjensen »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #13

> The Company intends to initiate the process of “de-Arching” those restaurants, which entails no longer using the McDonald’s name, logo, branding, and menu, though the Company will continue to retain its trademarks in Russia. Obviously they'd want to keep the trademark, otherwise they have no way to prevent those sold restaurants from "re-Arching" after the "de-Arching" :)

EDIT: This turned out to be fake - sorry. Leaving the rest of the comment here for posterity.

A Russian restaurant chain "Uncle Vanya" has already filed for a trademark that looks very "inspired" by the McD arches. It is basically rotated 90 degrees and a line is added, so it looks like a "B" - which is like the letter "V" in Vanya in the cyrillic alphabet.

Source:

https://twitter.com/JoshGerben/status/1504082125968007174

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/18/uncle-vanya-...

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#54

Post by damidekronik »

lnxg33k1 wrote: post #34
ineedasername wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think whether they go back will depend on what the country looks like after things stabilize. If Russia comes out of this still on belligerent footing then spending resources to reestablish a presence will be extremely risky. Even if leadership changes and makes conciliatory noises I would expect things to still take some years before the world can trust it's authentic.

Quoted post unavailable.

How is NATO going to not be belligerent if we are even thinking about letting Russia slaughter Ukrainians?

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#56

Post by eropple »

lnxg33k1 wrote: post #34
ineedasername wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think whether they go back will depend on what the country looks like after things stabilize. If Russia comes out of this still on belligerent footing then spending resources to reestablish a presence will be extremely risky. Even if leadership changes and makes conciliatory noises I would expect things to still take some years before the world can trust it's authentic.

Quoted post unavailable.

> How is Russia going to not be belligerent if we are even thinking about letting Sweden and Finland in NATO?

That's easy: by choosing to not be belligerent to countries exercising their sovereign autonomy.

"You're making me hit you!" No.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#57

Post by aynyc »

vondro wrote: post #29

Something that has been bugging me for some time (genuine question, please forgive me lack of geopolitics/economy understanding) is this: Supposing we want to hurt Russian economy - how are we hurting it by stopping selling them licenses/branding/machines to make and sell burgers and fries? Are we not ripping them off money if we sell to them? As in: we gain, they lose? I understand we don't want to sell advanced tec…

It's about image. The most powerful weapon the west has isn't nuclear bomb but its culture and image. McDonald's business is a drop in the bucket in the tax revenue for the Putin regime. But if you (Putin) wants to claim that Russia is a powerful country, it needs to project an image of wealth, stability, etc.. McDonald, Starbucks, etc helps with that image.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#58

Post by twoquestions »

vondro wrote: post #29

Something that has been bugging me for some time (genuine question, please forgive me lack of geopolitics/economy understanding) is this: Supposing we want to hurt Russian economy - how are we hurting it by stopping selling them licenses/branding/machines to make and sell burgers and fries? Are we not ripping them off money if we sell to them? As in: we gain, they lose? I understand we don't want to sell advanced tec…

It's probably much simpler than that. If Putin's going to keep invading other countries for little or no reason, what's that nutbar going to do to your property? There's a $20 term for this but I forget what it is.

In addition to the reasons others here have said, of course.

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#59

Post by ushakov »

chongli wrote: post #40
vondro wrote: post #29

Something that has been bugging me for some time (genuine question, please forgive me lack of geopolitics/economy understanding) is this: Supposing we want to hurt Russian economy - how are we hurting it by stopping selling them licenses/branding/machines to make and sell burgers and fries? Are we not ripping them off money if we sell to them? As in: we gain, they lose? I understand we don't want to sell advanced tec…

For a globally recognizable brand like McDonald's, the move to leave the country has a symbolic meaning. It sends a message to the Russian people that something is deeply wrong with the direction taken by their government. Of course, some Russians will interpret the move differently, but that cannot be avoided.

> Of course, some Russians will interpret the move differently

Russian propaganda will say something like: “McDonalds, evil American company, left our people without jobs and betrayed our trust”

most people would believe this

the blame will be shifted from Russian Government to “evil American corporation”

Re: McDonald’s to Exit from Russia

#60

Post by [deleted] »

vondro wrote: post #29

Something that has been bugging me for some time (genuine question, please forgive me lack of geopolitics/economy understanding) is this: Supposing we want to hurt Russian economy - how are we hurting it by stopping selling them licenses/branding/machines to make and sell burgers and fries? Are we not ripping them off money if we sell to them? As in: we gain, they lose? I understand we don't want to sell advanced tec…

[deleted]
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