After Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, IBM is preparing to pack up and leave Russia. This decision of suspension of business operationsofficially announced by the CEO of the American company on May 30, would be exclusively motivated by the war in Ukraine.
An orderly liquidation of activities in Russia
IBM is one of the last Western companies to keep a foothold on Russian soil since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Compared to other American technology companies present in the territory, its leaders wanted to analyze the evolution of the situation before taking a decision to withdraw partially or completely.
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In his May 30 statement addressed to all IBMers, Arvind Krishna recalled the complexity of the situation in terms of protecting staff and their families. “It is this difficulty in guaranteeing security and the future that led me to begin the suspension of IBM’s business operations on March 7,” he confirms. “IBM had to proceed with the orderly liquidation of its activities in Russia,” continues Arvind Krishna in his memo.
Arvind Krishna, the new CEO of IBM, arriving on April 6, 2020. Credit: IBM
An operation that does not weigh heavily on IBM’s balance
Despite the separation with a local workforce that Krishna particularly wanted to thank, IBM does not show any shortfall. The company’s chief financial officer, Jim Kavanaugh, told Reuters that “Russia represents only 0.5% of total turnover, if we refer to the results of the past year”.
On the other side of the curtain, Russian customers will not suffer for their part from this tear. Reuters reported that IBM has alienated Russian companies by depriving them of essential supplies like goods, software, services, technology and parts since the start of the conflict. Its clients include federal banks, railroads and energy producers.