Disney says that it will “pause” all business in Russia as Vladimir Putin continues to wage his unprovoked assault on Ukraine.
The move by the entertainment giant comes after it suspended the distribution of Disney movies in Russia last week.
Disney said it would be pausing content and product licensing, Disney Cruise Line business, National Geographic magazine and tours, and local content production.
“Given the unrelenting assault on Ukraine and the escalating humanitarian crisis, we are taking steps to pause all other businesses in Russia,” a spokesperson for the Walt Disney Company said.
The announcement comes just days after Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s and Starbucks announced they were pausing operations in Russia because of the war.
It comes two weeks after the Russian leader ordered his troops into Ukraine, sparking a conflict that has seen the country accused of war crimes and that sparked a major humanitarian crisis in Europe.
The company says its Russian employees will remain employed, and that it will work with NGO partners to provide aid to refugees.
Despite the pandemic, Disney made more than $445m at the Russian box office in 2020, but made as much as $1.3bn in 2013, according to Deadline.
Yale University professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute have been publishing a list of major companies who have stopped doing business in Russia, and the businesses that have so far remained.
Mr Sonnenfeld says that more than 300 companies have now left Russia, but around 40 are still operating in the country.
He told The Independent that the withdrawal of Coca-Cola, Pepsi and McDonald’s marked “the end” of companies doing business in Russia.
“Almost nobody wants to be on the wrong side of history, but you do still see some honourable companies that are on the wrong side, they are not doing it out of greed, it is a mindset that is stuck in a cultural time-warp, they are living in an era of Perestroika, they were great commercial bridges in that time,” he said.
