Google shifts employees out of Russia

Amidst the Russia-Ukraine face off, Google has shifted a huge number of its employees out of Russia, marking the termination of the company’s commercial presence in the country for the foreseeable future, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Most of the employees of Google Russia choose to leave the country and carry on working for Google from outside Russia. Many of the employees left for Dubai which has a big office and are working from there. Some employees choose to leave the company and stay in Russia which would soon mark the complete close down in the country, the report noted.

Google started offering employees out of Russia apropos a court held the company’s main bank account in the country last March. The court’s executive then moved the money out of the account, leaving the company with no funds for paying the employees and other expenses.

Google on Wednesday confirmed that the company operating in Russia is filing for bankruptcy. The company, however, will keep running free services like Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Android and Play.

“The Russian authorities’ seizure of Google Russia’s bank account has made it untenable for our Russian office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations,” a Google spokesperson said.

In March last, Google suspended all ads sales on its platforms in Russia in response to the growing demand for censorship. The suspension covered Google search, YouTube and Google’s publishing partners.

Suspension of ad sales in Russia means Russian businesses will not be able to use Google Ads platform to promote their products and services. Google Ads allows advertisers to display advertisements of their products and services in Google Search results, YouTube as well on websites of publishers who use AdSense to generate revenue.

Google is currently the market leader in online advertising and as of 2021 controlled almost 38% of the global digital ad spending, according to eMarketer.

Several companies from the EU, USA and the United Kingdom have disassociated with Russia at different levels. These include Netflix, Mastercard, VISA, Meta, Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel and AMD among others.