Russians back at that time, during Glasnost, were interested in anything Western.

Western culture, they were starving for it.

But 30 years later, amid pressure from US consumers following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, McDonald's announced it would be temporarily closing all 850 locations in Russia, which accounts for about 9% of McDonald's global revenue.

McDonald's shares dropped steadily since the invasion began on February 24th, and hit a low of $222 following news of the exit.

In an unprecedented movement, over 750 companies have since curtailed operations in Russia.

The first Russian McDonald's opened in Moscow on January 31st, 1990, shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed.

It was a really big moment for the country, and the restaurant drew large crowds.

Some have been waiting for two and a half hours.

And because this is Moscow, not everyone knows why.

This woman joined the line, knowing something must be on sale here.

She thought it was ice cream.

It was the biggest McDonald's in the world, and the fast-food chain sold 34,000 burgers on its first day.

But for the Soviet Union, McDonald's meant more than just hamburgers.

Two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the introduction of its first American restaurant symbolized capitalism and the gateway to the West.

I was there in the spring of 1988 when the Reagan Gorbachev Summit was happening in... in May, and they did a pop-up of McDonald's just to introduce it.

People were very excited and there were all these lines to line up and see it.

I waited for a little while and I kept saying to my friends, "Really, this is not what you want to wait in line for."

I mean, no offense to McDonald's, but it's not great food, you know, and...

But they were just excited for anything American because they really loved American products.

They loved American fashion. They loved American food.

They loved any information they could get about America.

McDonald's hired 630 workers out of 27,000 applicants, and all employees were trained to smile.

Totally opposite from Soviet culture at the time.

The indoctrination of the young staff has created a pep rally enthusiasm that confounded some first-day customers.

Because it's very unusual for Soviet people to be... to be kind and to be polite to everybody.

The fast-food giant quickly expanded into Russia, eventually adding about 850 locations, the largest American exposure to Russia since it owns [a] majority of its restaurants.

McDonald's in Russia was somewhat popular; it accounted for about 9% of McDonald's global revenue.

But that's mostly because McDonald's owned the majority of its restaurants in Russia.

But it was only about 2% of its systemwide sales, which is an indication of every customer who goes and buys a Big Mac and McNuggets, not necessarily how much money trickles through to McDonald's overall.

On March 8th, 2022, McDonald's announced its plans to temporarily close restaurants and pause operations in Russia in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

McDonald's took some time to finally make a statement and to shut down its restaurants in Russia, and I believe it was about a week after the Kremlin initially invaded Ukraine.

And in that time, they had come under pretty heavy criticism, particularly from Yale professor, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,

for failing to say anything on the matter, for failing to say anything with regards to well-wishes for the Ukrainian community, the Ukrainian operators, that kind of thing.

Amid pressure for US companies to shut down their presence in Russia, other fast-food chains have followed suit.

But unlike McDonald's, those chains don't actually operate the locations themselves.

Later in the day, Starbucks, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola announced their plans to pause the business activity in Russia.

Yum Brands, which franchises about 1,000 KFC restaurants and 50 Pizza Hut locations in Russia, decided to suspend all investment and restaurant development in the country.

Burger King, which entered Russia through a joint-venture agreement, is moving to divest its 15-percent stake in the Russian business and suspending all corporate support to its 800 franchised locations.

It's a way of symbolically showing that we don't stand with their actions in Ukraine, but it's also a way of, you know, cutting off Russia from the West, from the US.

And I think, also, this is part of a general movement as a whole for US companies to respond to political movements, things that go beyond just selling hamburgers.

Think about, like, the Black Lives Matter movement, for example, in June of 2020.

There's no telling when or if McDonald's will resume its operations in Russia, but the company is taking quite a hit to its bottom line.

84% of its 850 locations in Russia are operated by McDonald's, the rest are operated by franchisees.

McDonald's CFO has said it's losing about $50 million per month during the shutdown, or roughly 5 to 6 cents per share.

We're working through the im⏤exact impact of all of that right now, but it also will include things like paying our lease costs for mostly-leased sites in Russia.

We'll have some supply-chain-related costs and some⏤various other costs.

McDonald's has also closed its 108 locations in Ukraine for safety reasons.

Russia and Ukraine together account for roughly 2% of McDonald's systemwide sales and 3% of its operating income.

In the meantime, the fast-food chain has committed to still paying its employees in both countries.

If they continue to pay their employees⏤62,000 employees in Russia⏤that impact will remain, at around that 50-million-dollar per month.

If they stop paying their employees, I think that number comes down dramatically.

We just don't know if or when they will stop paying their employees in that market.

I think once they do, I think it's kind of another retrenchment backwards.

It takes much longer for them to restart operations there.

If they don't have employees, it'll take a lot longer to... to do.

McDonald's said in a statement that. "At this juncture, it's impossible to predict when we might be able to reopen our restaurants in Russia."

Some analysts expect that those Russian restaurants won't reopen until the end of the year.

Some predict this move could be permanent.

If this comes to a resolution over the coming weeks or months, it's possible that they can restart operations.

And, again, it'll be much easier for them to restart operations if they're continuing to pay employees and have them on the payroll versus if they stop paying people and they have to go find other jobs.

It'd be much more difficult to find those 62,000 employees again and restart operations.

Another concern is the possibility of sales across broader Europe slowing down as the war continues, as well as the overall risk of deglobalization.

One thing is for certain: The end of McDonald's in Russia would be just as historic as its beginning.

The trouble is, those who support the war are probably going to view it as another unjust action by the West for what they think is a modest military operation in Ukraine that they've been convinced is totally justified.

And so a hugely symbolic on the way in for everyone, but a different symbolism on the way out.

And of course, Sarah, Pepsi was the first one in there, 1984, and now, as Mike said in his reading, that's gone, too.