Russia won’t run Dunkin – at least not anymore.
American multinational coffee shop Dunkin’ Donuts has become the latest consumer favorite to sever its business ties with Russia and join a growing list of corporations shunning the country by the minute in response to President Vladimir Putin’s military invasion of Ukraine.
“Dunkin’ has suspended all ongoing development and investment in Russia,” a Yahoo Finance spokesman said on Friday, pointing out that the company has about 20 Dunkin’ offices in Russia, all owned and operated by a local independent franchise owner. technically can’t close them.
The brand’s move comes amid mounting pressure on major corporations to take punitive action against Moscow amid a broader wave of corporate activity that has seen more than 300 firms suspend operations in Russia in protest, according to a list compiled by a Yale professor. University Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team.
Always hiring managers and crew sign outside a Dunkin Donuts store in Queens, New York. (Photo: Lindsey Nicholson/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Sonnenfeld list can be found here and is updated hourly to reflect new announcements from companies in real time.
“When this list was first published on Feb. 28, only a few dozen companies announced their exit,” he said on the site.
The list of companies that continue to operate on the Russian market is shrinking. After Yahoo Finance reported on Thursday afternoon that about 40 names had maintained a presence in Russia, Sonnenfeld’s list had dwindled to 35 as of Friday morning.
Subway restaurants continue to operate in Russia. However, the company said in a statement that all locations are independently owned and operated by local franchisees and operated by an independent master franchisee.
“We do not directly control these independent franchisees and their restaurants,” the company said, also pledging to use any profits from operations in Russia to help humanitarian aid to Ukrainians affected by the war.
The owner of Cadbury Mondelez, who reportedly earns 3.5% or $1 billion in revenue from his Russian business, said he was “cutting down all non-essential activities” but didn’t stop completely, according to a Yale study.
The story goes on
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Alexandra Semyonova, correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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