(PresidentialWire.com)- More and more major companies are bowing out of Russia as the nation’s war with neighboring Ukraine rages on.
Partly due to sanctions imposed by the United States and other western countries, these major companies are abandoning their operations in Russia. The latest major company to announce these plans was Nike, which said it wouldn’t renew franchise agreements in the country.
The person who heads up Inventive Retail Group, which is charged with operating all Nike stores in Russia, confirmed to Vedomosti Daily that they wouldn’t be supplied with Nike merchandise any longer.
The president of IRG, Tikhon Smykov, sent a note to the company’s employees recently that read:
“As supplies of goods run out, IRG will be forced to close all of its shops under this brand.”
That means that all 37 of the Nike stores that are in operation throughout Russia are likely to shutter.
It’s not an altogether surprising development for Nike. The company temporarily suspended all of their operations in Russia back in March, and this is just the next step in the predictable move.
Many American companies have completely halted all deals with Russia due to the U.S. sanctions on the country. Those companies that didn’t do so immediately after the sanctions were announced were always expected to eventually get there — either to stay in line with other major brands that were doing it, or under pressure from the American government.
In early May, Nike also ended its sponsorship deal with Spartak Moscow, a soccer club in the Russian Premier League. The club said it wouldn’t taking part in any competitions throughout Europe for the next season.
It’s not just pressure from the American government that is getting to American-based companies that haven’t yet backed out of Russia. It’s media companies, too.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University, is keeping an ongoing tally of American companies and where they stand in doing business with Russia. CBS News reported on that last week, stating there were 27 companies based in the U.S. that were still doing business in Russia.
The tally being compiled by the Yale School of Management lists all the major businesses in America still doing business with Russia, as well as their current operating status.
As the website set up for the tally explains:
“The list below is updated continuously by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his team of experts, research fellows and students at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute to reflect new announcements from companies in as close to real time as possible.”
The statuses that are listed on the site include descriptions such as “distributors in Russia,” “still flying to Russia” and “still operating in Russia.”
Many business experts believe that the only American-based companies that will continue to do business with the country in the wake of the sanctions are those that heavily rely on trading with the country to survive. All others are likely to eventually come around and exit the country.
