Microsoft subsidiary declares bankruptcy in Russia
(MENAFN) Microsoft’s Russian subsidiary has officially initiated bankruptcy proceedings, according to a notice posted Friday on the Fedresurs registry. The move comes as part of the U.S. tech giant’s broader withdrawal from Russia, which began following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
Microsoft halted product sales and suspended many operations in Russia in March 2022 to comply with Western sanctions imposed on Moscow. Since then, several major Russian companies—including Severstal, Uralkali, VTB, MegaFon, and Gazprombank—have filed lawsuits against Microsoft Rus, citing contract breaches. These legal claims total nearly 341 million rubles (around $3.6 million), according to business outlet RBK.
After ending operations, Microsoft stopped renewing Microsoft 365 subscriptions for Russian businesses, cutting access to services like Outlook, Teams, Office, OneDrive, and SharePoint. It also restricted cloud-based tools such as Visio Online, Project Online, and Power BI.
Financial data shows a sharp decline in the subsidiary’s performance: in 2023, Microsoft Rus reported revenue of 161.6 million rubles (roughly $2 million) and profit of 174.1 million rubles ($2.13 million), a steep drop from 2021’s figures of 6.9 billion rubles ($84.5 million) in revenue and 638.1 million rubles ($7.8 million) in profit.
Despite the exit, Microsoft registered the trademark “Microsoft Places” with Russia’s patent office, Rospatent, earlier this year, signaling plans to maintain access to specific software services until at least 2023.
Meanwhile, other Western companies—such as McDonald’s, Hyundai, Intel, LG, IKEA, Chanel, Rolex, and Louis Vuitton—have recently begun registering new trademarks in Russia, suggesting potential plans to return.
President Vladimir Putin recently addressed this trend, calling for a structured program to manage foreign firms reentering the Russian market. He stressed that while returning companies would be welcome, Russia's business interests would take priority and there would be no "red carpet" treatment.
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