Tech Roundup: Apple, Intel, Microsoft lead growing tech boycott against Russia
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The brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine continued to color everything else in business in general, and tech in particular this week, as several tech giants threw their weight behind the worldwide effort to punish Moscow economically.
Among major tech leaders, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said it has canceled or suspended all business operations and sales in Russia, including halting sales online and through third-party retailers, and ceasing all shipments of products to the country.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) also said it has suspended all product shipments to Russia and its ally, Belarus, and that its employees and charitable foundation have so far raised $1.2 million for Ukrainian relief efforts. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) also said it has stopped selling ads for search products, YouTube and outside publishing partners in Russia.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) said on Friday that it has put the brakes on all new sales of its products and services in Russia, and that it is taking an active role in helping Ukrainian cybersecurity officials defend against Russian attacks.
Music streaming and podcasting giant Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) said it has closed its office in Russia "indefinitely" and removed all content from the Moscow-supported RT and Sputnik media networks.
On Friday, videogame giant Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) said it will no longer sell its titles in Russia and Belarus. The company had already removed the Russian and Belarus national teams from its FIFA soccer and NHL videogame titles.
And the Washington Post reported that Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI), a key provider of Internet service to Russia, has cut off access to the country.
While the Russia-Ukraine war took the spotlight all week, there were other notable tech matters that occurred that were not connected to the conflict.
Disney (NYSE:DIS) confirmed that it will add an ad-supported option to its Disney+ streaming service later this year. Prices were not disclosed, but it would not be a surprise for the new service to come with a price tag less than the current Disney+ fee of $7.99 a month.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which is in the process of acquiring MGM Studios (OTC:MGMB) for $8.5 billion, is said to be pressing the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to make a decision on the deal by the middle of this month.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) said it is expanding further into programming with interactive features by adding a new daily trivia show called Trivia Quest
on April 1.
Speaking of Netflix (NFLX)...Anyone looking for Marvel shows such as The Punisher and Jessica Jones came up empty as those series left the streaming TV leader on March 1. Those Marvel shows are headed to Disney+ (DIS) starting March 16.
Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) got a lift, as its shares climbed 4% on Friday after the communications chipmaker reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.
And in a sign of normalcy beginning to return as the Covid-19 pandemic wanes, several tech leaders updated their plans for employees to return to the office on at least a semi-regular basis.
Apple (AAPL) has set an April 11 date for office employees to start coming back to company facilitie one day a week, and working up to three days a week by May 23.
Google (GOOG) said it will end its full-time work-from-home policies and that employees will be expected to be in company offices for three days a week starting April 4.
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) Chief Executive Parag Agrawal said the social-media company would re-open its offices starting March 15, but it is not requiring its employees to be at their office desks for a set number of days a week.