A Bunch of the Companies That Said They Would Leave Russia Never Did, Now Saying They Probably Won’t

Companies are not moral. The only reason companies pretend to be moral is to try to avoid government regulation and other punishments.

Companies should not be moral. It is actually a terrifying proposition to suggest a world where companies care about something other than profit, as it throws off the entire order of society.

RT:

More than half of the foreign businesses that announced plans to leave Russia after the start of the Ukraine conflict have remained in the country, the Financial Times reported on Monday. A rebound in consumer activity and “bureaucratic obstacles” are making the companies stay, the outlet suggested.

British businesses such as cosmetics brand Avon and consumer goods company Reckitt, as well as French industrial gas producer Air Liquide, are among 2,173 overseas firms that continue to operate in Russia as of May 5, according to data compiled by the Kiev School of Economics. Around 1,600 firms either exited or curtailed their operations in the country, it added.

Scores of Western companies pledged to leave the Russian market shortly after Moscow launched its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022. Carmakers Volkswagen and Renault, oil and gas multinationals Shell and British Petroleum, fast-food chain McDonald’s, and Swedish furniture giant IKEA are among those that completed their exits.

Firms that left in the first weeks of the conflict saw “a moral imperative” to do so, an executive working with Western companies in Russia told FT. However, there has since been “a noticeable change in sentiment,” he added.

“The current wave is more about, ‘Do you really have to leave? Do you want to leave?’ Some of these companies have built four, five factories over 30 years. They’re not going to sell that for a 90% discount,” the outlet quoted the executive as saying.

The sale of assets to Russian buyers by Western companies requires approval by a government commission headed by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. The Finance Ministry imposed a mandatory 50% discount on the sale of assets belonging to firms from “unfriendly” countries, and a minimum 15% “exit tax,” Russian media previously reported.

That was such an alpha move.

Frankly, it was pretty alpha for a bunch of companies to say they were going to leave and then just wait for shit to cool down and then be like “yeah, we don’t really care that much about this tranny gibberish in the Ukraine, we’d actually rather make money instead.”