Short of a change of regime in Russia it seems improbable Storytel will be able to resume operations in Russia, and while financials are of course nowhere near as important as the human costs, there will be financial hits on the wider company as the Russia losses are factored in to the 2022 Storytel accounts.
I’d barely finished writing a post on the dilemma facing the new Storytel CEO Ingrid Bojner about what to do with Storytel Russia when news came in that a decision had been made to “pause” Storytel RU operations until further notice.
Storytel is deeply concerned about the current war in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis it is causing. Storytel will therefore pause its operations in Russia until further notice, including halting all content production and new content acquisitions in Russia.
Storytel stands with the Ukrainian people suffering the consequences of the war. The commitment in helping the deeply afflicted citizens is profound among Storytel’s employees around the world and we are currently coordinating a range of initiatives through our country organization in Poland, which has a direct border with Ukraine and is directly exposed to large refugee flows.
Storytel’s vision is to make the world a more empathetic and creative place, with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and at any time. For the first time since our inception, we are pausing sales, marketing, production, business development and content investments in a key market. We can only regret that this impacts the passionate and book loving Russian people.
Storytel will continue to closely monitor and evaluate the developments and keep a dialogue with all relevant stakeholders.
As part of an international strategy to penalise the Russian government for its actions in Ukraine a suspension of Storytel’s activities in Russia was inevitable, but as with most international sanctions they penalise the innocent alongside the guilty parties in office.
It’s not clear – and unlikely Storytel will share – what will happen to the Storytel RU employees in Russia, or how the contracts with publishers, producers and authors will be handled.
But clearly their long-term prospects are bleak, even if the war itself is brought to an early close.
Short of a change of regime in Russia it seems improbable Storytel will be able to resume operations in Russia, and while financials are of course nowhere near as important as the human costs, there will be financial hits on the wider company as the Russia losses are factored in to the 2022 Storytel accounts.
We’ll see how that pans out as the year – and the war – develops.
For now our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and, yes, with those in Russia who have played no part in this unfolding crime other than to be Russian, but that are powerless to prevent the atrocities happening in their name.
