Bean counters: how Russia’s wealthy profited from exit of western brands

Buyers of Starbucks operations say they paid £4.7m for assets, despite 2021 revenues ten times that figure

In the weeks after the invasion of Ukraine began, western companies in Russia were faced with a costly conundrum. Facing pressure from their customers and western governments to end all operations in Russia, brands from Coca-Cola to Levi’s to Ikea all announced they would pull out.

So as ordinary Russians found their access to Apple services limited and their Netflix cut off, many western brands with a significant physical presence in the country found themselves taking huge financial hits for their decision to “self-sanction”.

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