According to Barrons report, Airbnb late Thursday said it would suspend its operations in Russia and Belarus. The home-rental company joins Volkswagen, Accenture, and Spotify as the latest Western companies to suspend operations in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Brian Chesky, chief executive of Airbnb, announced his company’s suspension of operations in Russia via a tweet late Thursday.
Volkswagen, the German car manufacturer, announced on Thursday it would suspend production of vehicles in Russia until further notice, including at its production sites in Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod. The company also will immediately paused car exports to Russia.
Consulting firm Accenture also is discontinuing its business in Russia, calling for an end to the “unlawful and horrific attack on the people of Ukraine and their freedom” in a press release on Thursday. The company said it would provide support to its 2,300 Russian employees.
Spotify said Thursday it had closed its Russian office indefinitely, and had restricted content created by Russian state media, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this week, it removed content from Russia’s state-backed RT and Sputnik in international markets. The service is still available in Russia, the company said.
Around 75% of Americans said they supported companies cutting business ties with Russia and stopping sales of products, according to a survey released over the weekend by Morning Consult.
Cutting ties may be a savvy move for the companies whose primary markets are in the U.S., given that the Russian market may not be as crucial for most companies, wrote Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist for LPL Financial.
“The amount of trade between Russia and the United States is negligible,” he wrote. The U.S. imports “almost nothing” from Russia, he added, calculating that the percentage of revenue generated by S&P 500 companies in Russia could be even lower.
It may have a bigger effect on the energy sector, or on European companies, Buchbinder added.
Volkswagen and Spotify join a growing list of companies that have decided to pull out of Russia. The list is expansive, and includes some of the largest names across a myriad of industries, from Big Tech and entertainment to oil and financial services.
Here’s a rundown of some of the companies across different sectors that have left Russia.
Apple confirmed Tuesday it had paused the sales of its products in Russia and restricted downloads of its apps. That same day, Snap said it had stopped all advertising in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, but would continue to run the app as it is an “important communications tool.”
Social media platforms were taking a similar approach to Spotify, with Meta saying Monday it would also restrict access to Russian state-owned media accounts RT and Sputnik, according to the Journal. TikTok, the popular short-form video app, will take a similar approach, while Twitter began to label tweets linking to sources affiliated to the Russian state to limit their reach.
In addition to Volkswagen, Toyota said on Thursday it would stop production at its St. Petersburg plant starting March 4, and has stopped exporting vehicles into Russia until further notice. The company had suspended all activities in Ukraine since Feb. 24.
