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Technology

Dell Ceases All Russian Operations After August Offices Closure (reuters.com) 35

Dell says it has ceased all Russian operations after closing its offices in mid-August, the latest in a growing list of Western firms to exit Russia. From a report: The U.S. computer firm, a vital supplier of servers in Russia, has joined others in curtailing operations since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Dell suspended sales in Ukraine and Russia in February, saying it would monitor the situation to determine next steps. "In mid-August, we closed our offices and ceased all Russian operations," Dell spokesperson Mike Siemienas told Reuters. "Back in February, we made the decision to not sell, service or support products in Russia, Belarus and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, in addition to the already embargoed Crimea."
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Dell Ceases All Russian Operations After August Offices Closure

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  • While I Feel Bad (Score:5, Insightful)

    by aerogems ( 339274 ) on Monday August 29, 2022 @11:15AM (#62832893)

    For the employees who likely had nothing at all to do with Putin's lunacy and are having to pay for it by losing their jobs... compared to the wholesale looting, mass murders, and indiscriminate shelling of civilians they're still getting a better deal than the Ukrainians.

    • by Anonymous Coward
      And rapes! Don't forget about the rapes - the Russians sure haven't forgotten that part of the "be total assholes" checklist.
    • Why did it take them so long to pull out? They have done so several months ago.
      • Re: While I Feel Bad (Score:4, Informative)

        by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:00PM (#62833071)

        Why did it take them so long to pull out? They have done so several months ago.

        I suspect a multi-national closing up shop in a country is fairly complicated. There's probably a bunch of contracts and agreements made with the subsidiary that need to be terminated and/or transferred to the parent company. Figuring out what assets are there and if/how they should be recovered, and figuring out what to do with all the employees and projects. As the other poster in this thread mentioned [slashdot.org] Dell tried to get a lot of the Russian employees out of the country, and those people probably needed some time to decide and arrange things.

        • I'm going to guess that pretty much any assets in Russia are write offs, likely to be seized by the state and handed over to the subcontractors or some other suitably loyal firm. In essence it's going to be one big write off of inventory and equipment. What's going to be complicated is how those write offs happen in other jurisdictions, and that's going to require accountants and tax lawyers to navigate the legal and policy webs of depreciation vs full write off as well as capital losses. It's been done bef

        • Why did it take them so long to pull out? They have done so several months ago.

          I suspect a multi-national closing up shop in a country is fairly complicated. There's probably a bunch of contracts and agreements made with the subsidiary that need to be terminated and/or transferred to the parent company. Figuring out what assets are there and if/how they should be recovered, and figuring out what to do with all the employees and projects. As the other poster in this thread mentioned [slashdot.org] Dell tried to get a lot of the Russian employees out of the country, and those people probably needed some time to decide and arrange things.

          Apple pulled out within the first month or so; along with the initial big wave of Corporate Pullouts.

          What took Dell so long, indeed?

          • Apple presence probably was a few fancy stores in shopping malls, much easier to close.

            • Apple presence probably was a few fancy stores in shopping malls, much easier to close.

              So, same with HP, Acer, Asus, and IBM, too? They all pulled out before Dell.

    • Re:While I Feel Bad (Score:5, Informative)

      by crow ( 16139 ) on Monday August 29, 2022 @11:48AM (#62833023) Homepage Journal

      I work for Dell in the US as a software engineer. We've long had an R&D group in St. Petersburg (from the EMC acquisition), and I don't know what else we had. Dell had been very quiet about relocating Russian employees, but was apparently doing it. Some employees were looking to relocate, but didn't move fast enough, and are now out of a job. We might rehire them if they relocate on their own; I know one employee asked, and was told they would discuss it privately.

      I have no qualms with the decision to close operations in Russia. I do think Dell could have quietly told all the employees that they would have to relocate to retain their jobs, and Dell could have moved faster to relocate them and to close down operations. But I haven't seen any of the internal details.

      But even without the efforts at genocide, nuclear threats, mass civilian killings, rapes, and other war crimes, simply the invasion itself should have been sufficient cause to pull out of Russia.

      • I imagine Dell is in a bit of a bind. Nothing stays secret for long, particularly in a country like Russia, and they certainly don't want to throw anyone in harm's way as they figure out how to extract what they can from Russian soil

        • I imagine Dell is in a bit of a bind. Nothing stays secret for long, particularly in a country like Russia, and they certainly don't want to throw anyone in harm's way as they figure out how to extract what they can from Russian soil

          Dozens of other Corps. "Figured it out".

          Why not Dell?

      • But even without the efforts at genocide, nuclear threats, mass civilian killings, rapes, and other war crimes, simply the invasion itself should have been sufficient cause to pull out of Russia.

        And it was, for something like 51 other Multinationals.

        Why not Dell?

        • While the story is about Dell, and so I see why you are asking, please see this report from Yale [yale.edu] for a comprehensive view of who is in and who is out in Russia. For PC makers, note Lenovo still seems to be operating in Russia. You might find others. Dell at least is gone now.
          • While the story is about Dell, and so I see why you are asking, please see this report from Yale [yale.edu] for a comprehensive view of who is in and who is out in Russia. For PC makers, note Lenovo still seems to be operating in Russia. You might find others. Dell at least is gone now.

            Very informative List, thanks!

            As I said: Six months after many other Multinational Corporations, including other Computer companies, like Apple (Mar), HP (Feb), Acer (Apr), Asus (Mar) and IBM (Jun).

            What took them so long?

            And yes, now it's time for some Lenovo-Shaming!

  • Dude. (Score:5, Funny)

    by suss ( 158993 ) on Monday August 29, 2022 @11:19AM (#62832913)

    Comrade, you're not getting a Dell.

  • That's great news!
  • Bravo Dell (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RemindMeLater ( 7146661 ) on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:09PM (#62833105)
    The right move on every level. Russia should not get to enjoy any Western technology while it continues to act like a 15th century barbarian empire. I hope the EU bans Russian tourist visas while at it. No skiing in switzerland or sunbathing in France while your country does its best to annihilate a peaceful neighbor.
    • The right move on every level. Russia should not get to enjoy any Western technology while it continues to act like a 15th century barbarian empire. I hope the EU bans Russian tourist visas while at it. No skiing in switzerland or sunbathing in France while your country does its best to annihilate a peaceful neighbor.

      And don't forget the Big Macs!

      No Big Macs for you!

  • Or is the slave labor just too good an opportunity to pass up?

  • Of course, this is something that ethically and legally had to be done, but I do wonder how much this gives China an edge, basically having a captive audience for an entire market of a superpower. With Dell/EMC out of the picture, this ensures Huawei has pretty much a monopoly for Russian computer infrastructure.

    Long term, is driving Russia into the arms of China going to wreak more havoc?

    • by Anonymous Coward
      Dell is a has-been Superpower, with a mostly defunct military. The only notable abilities that they can still leverage are an aging stockpile of cold-war nuclear weapons, and fossil-fuel exports (for now). Their government and economy are so beset by corruption that its 2020 per-capita GDP ranks around 80th, and is set to fall significantly for 2022.
    • by Slayer ( 6656 )

      The Chinese are still heavily dependent on US chips, therefore they are not going to supply decent computers to the Russian Federation. Take Lenovo as example, who quit the Russian market. [channelnews.com.au]

  • Where will Russians get their crossword puzzles from?

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