McDonalds

Owners and Management

Almost 100% of the company's shares are in free float. Capitalization as of mid-June 2009 - $64.2 billion.

The chairman of the board of directors and the general manager of the company is James A. Skinner, the president is Don Thompson.

Aktivs

The range of restaurants includes burgers (including Big Mac), sandwiches, fries, desserts, drinks, etc. In most countries of the world, the chain's restaurants sell beer, but in Russia McDonald's restaurants are completely non-alcoholic.

As of mid-June 2009, there were 32,060 restaurants operating under the McDonald's trademark in 118 countries (including about 14 thousand of them located in the United States). Of these, a significant part (25,578) was franchised, so the range of restaurants, size and composition of portions can vary greatly between countries.

At the end of 2010, the corporation had 32,737 restaurants around the world, losing to Subway.

The year McDonald's first food outlet opened in Europe.

One of the company's most developing projects in the 2010s was the McCafé coffee chain.

Countries with the most McDonald's for July 2022

Number of restaurants in Europe as of June 2022

Performance indicators

Revenue of the entire McDonald's Corp. in 2012 increased by 2% to $27.57 billion.

2022: McDonald's loses $1.2 billion as it leaves Russia

McDonald's in the second quarter of 2022 lost $1.2 billion due to leaving Russia. The American company announced this at the end of July 2022 as part of the publication of its reports.

According to McDonald's materials, in April-June 2022, the fast food chain reduced its net profit by 1.9 times, writing off $1.2 billion in connection with the sale of Russian business. Similar expenses in the first half of 2022 amounted to $1.3 billion. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

McDonald's restaurant chain lost $1.2 billion due to leaving Russia

Businessman Alexander Govor said McDonald's sold him a business in Russia for a "nominal fee." The price was "much lower than the market price," he said. However, he added, the deal provides for a buyback option. According to the terms, McDonald's will be able to buy back its assets in Russia if Govor remains a master franchisee. At the same time, he added that the former owners of the network "made it clear that they would not buy out."

In the first quarter, due to the suspension of work in Russia and Ukraine, McDonald's lost $127 million: $27 million went to employee salaries, rent and payments to suppliers, $100 million had to write off inventory.

McDonald's revenue in the second quarter of 2022 decreased to $5.72 billion from $5.89 billion a year earlier. McDonald's global comparable sales (restaurants operating for more than a year) rose 9.7% in the second quarter, and 3.7% in the United States. The increase was expected to be 6.8% and 3.5%, respectively. The company's net profit in April-June 2022 amounted to $1.19 billion, having significantly decreased relative to the profit of a year ago at $2.22 billion.

The company's total expenses for the second quarter of 2022 amounted to $4.01 billion. They increased by 25% compared to the first quarter precisely due to losses in Russia.^[1]

2020: Revenue - $21.07 billion

Business in Russia

Main article: Tasty - and period (formerly McDonald's Russia)

Business in Belarus

Main article: McDonald's in Belarus

Business in Ukraine

Main article: McDonalds Ukraine

Business in Kazakhstan

2023

McDonald's Kazakhstan franchise owner arrested

The owner of the McDonald's franchise in Kazakhstan and a relative of ex-President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kairat Boranbaev, said that the closure of the fast food chain was not connected with his arrest. According to him, meat simply ran out in Kazakhstan.

Boranbaev is accused of complicity in the appropriation of Qazaq Gaz property on an especially large scale, as well as in the legalization of criminal funds on a large scale.

Shutdown of restaurants due to ban on the purchase of cutlets in Russia

According to sources in January 2023, McDonald's Corp. intends to abandon work in Kazakhstan under its own brand.

24 McDonald's restaurants owned by TOO Food Solutions KZ suspended operations in November 2022, citing supply issues.

Although Kazakh businesses are not subject to sanctions against Moscow during the conflict in Ukraine, McDonald's, which left Russia, has banned its franchise from purchasing meat cutlets from Russian suppliers.

Kazakh business could not get meat cutlets from local or European suppliers, and higher prices and costs for transporting goods across a huge territory of the country would mean unprofitable business.

A few days later, the company itself confirmed that the McDonalds restaurant chain in Kazakhstan stops working under this brand due to supply restrictions.

"The resumption of activities and the timing of the opening of new quick service restaurants under the new name will be announced shortly."

History

2024: McDonald's IT collapse makes ordering food from restaurants impossible worldwide

On March 15, 2024, the McDonald's fast food chain reported a massive disruption to its information infrastructure. Due to the IT collapse, ordering food has become impossible around the world. The problem affected the mobile application and self-service terminals.

The outage reportedly covered McDonald's restaurants in,,,, and Japan Australia China Britain New Zealand other countries and. Asia Europe For example, a company employee in Bangkok said that due to the inoperability of the IT system, it became impossible online payments to accept credit card payments - service is carried out only for cash. In some countries, McDonald's outlets have completely suspended visitor service, while in other regions restaurant employees have been forced to take orders with a notebook and pen. Downdetector has recorded a surge in problems with the availability of the mobile application around the world.

Unsplash

The reliability and stability of our IT platform is a priority. We are working as a matter of urgency to address this issue. Thank you for your patience and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused, "McDonald's said in a statement.

As of mid-March 2024, the reasons for the large-scale failure were not disclosed. It is only said that the incident is not related to the activity of cybercriminals and is not related to the transfer of IT services to the cloud platform. Google Cloud At the same time, it is emphasized that the problems occurred due to the fault of a third-party technology supplier. It is estimated that the most affected by the disruption is where Japan nearly 3,000 McDonald's branches operate - the third place behind and. China USA In addition, the problem had a significant impact on the operation of restaurants in Hong Kong.^[2]

2023

Plastic chemicals found in Coca-Cola drinks and McDonald's burgers

In early January 2024, Consumer Reports, a nonprofit that publishes reviews and comparative tests of consumer products and services, published the results of a study that focuses on finding dangerous plastic chemicals in popular foods. Experts checked 85 products, in 84 of which harmful substances were found. Read more here.

Closing U.S. offices and sending employees to work from home in anticipation of crisis

McDonald's is bracing for layoffs and is temporarily closing its U.S. offices in April 2023. Employees will work from home and wait for a letter with a new role in the company or with information about compensation.

2022: $1.3 billion fine for tax avoidance

On June 15, 2022, McDonald's announced that it had agreed to pay more than €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) to the French state to settle a case in which the company was accused of years of tax evasion.

The Paris court approved this agreement on June 16, 2022, the French national financial prosecutor's office said . McDonald's said the settlement was the result of "productive discussions" with French tax authorities.

McDonald's to pay $1.3 billion fine for tax avoidance

The decision means a tax fraud investigation into the company, launched after a union court complaint in 2016, will be closed.

Prosecutors said McDonald's France, McDonald's System of France, MCD Luxembourg Real Estate and other related companies will pay €1.24 billion ($1.29 billion) in fines, penalties and recovered taxes to settle the case.

The case stemmed from allegations that first surfaced in 2014 that McDonald's diverted revenue paid by its franchise restaurants to units in other countries, thereby reducing its taxable income in France.

French media in 2014 reported that the authorities were carefully checking deductions sent to a subsidiary in Luxembourg. In 2016, as part of an investigation, police raided McDonald's headquarters in France.

The company has been accused of hiding French profits through lower-tax Luxembourg between 2009 and 2020, as well as providing artificially low profit figures in France.

McDonald's said in a statement that the company has already paid €2.2 billion in taxes during this period. The company would not comment on the allegations.

This judicial agreement was adopted in order to avoid a trial, which is a very long and inevitably unpredictable process, "lawyer Denis Chemla told reporters.

Most of the expected tax settlement has already accrued and is reflected in the company's last quarterly profit for 2022, and the remainder will be reflected in the results of the second quarter of 2022, the company said.[3]

2021

Sale of Dynamic Yield personalization platform to Mastercard

On December 21, 2021, Mastercard and McDonald's announced an agreement under which a payment system developer buys the Dynamic Yield personalization platform. It is McDonald's biggest asset sale in 20 years. The exact amount of the deal was not disclosed, however, sources familiar with the terms told CNBC that the buyer could have paid more than $300 million. Read more here.

Fired McDonald's chief to pay $105m for sex with subordinates

On December 16, 2021, Steve Easterbrook, the former chief executive officer of McDonald's, who was fired due to sexual relations with subordinates, agreed to return $105 million in cash and pay a share reward to settle the fast food chain's lawsuit. Read more here.

IT Lab Sale

At the end of October 2021, McDonald's announced the sale of the McD Tech Labs division to IBM. As part of this transaction, the cost of which was not disclosed, the companies also began cooperation in the development of an automated autocafe service. Read more here.

Tap water sale for €2.75 in France

At the end of September 2021, France became the first country in the world where McDonald's introduced a new product to the menu - a glass of water. The cost of a 25 ml glass of tap filtered water is €1.7.

McDonald's explained the innovation by abandoning plastic bottles. The water in question is just pure filtered water with an additional pass through the fine filter, which brings it to crystal purity, removing all related substances that could not be disposed of in the previous stages. Finally, the filtered water is disinfected with ultraviolet light killing all microorganisms.

In one of the social networks, one of the employees of McDonald's, quoted by Le Monde, revealed the secret of clean water sold by the company. Unlike the decanter with water, which is free to customers in bars and restaurants in France.

McDonald's started selling tap water for €2.75

I work at McDonald's and it's incredible. This is tap water that passes through the filter and is sold for €5 to €7 per 1 liter. Perhaps this is the biggest scam of the century. And also, customers who want a bottle with a resealable lid? It's a pity, but this is no longer possible... - commented an employee of McDonald under the nickname CLEM'ZER.

A 25 ml glass of still water costs the consumer €1.70. The 50ml format shows a price of €2.30 or even €2.75 in the lime-flavoured version, and in the children's menu, the Evian bottle is simply replaced with McDonald's Eau without changing the total cost.

Many Internet users in France rebelled against the sale of this new drink.

McDonald's has denied allegations that the restaurant chain wanted to profit on tap water. The US giant said in a statement that the cost of selling McDonald's water is on the market on average per 1 litre of the price of filtered water sold^[4]

Data theft as a result of a hacker attack

In mid-June 2021, McDonald's reported that hackers stole the data of customers and employees from the United States, South Korea and Taiwan. Unauthorized access was cut off a week after it was discovered, and the company hired outside consultants to investigate.

In an appeal to employees, McDonald's said that the hack stole information about business contacts of employees working in the United States, as well as data on the restaurants themselves, for example, the number of seats and the area of ​ ​ playgrounds. The company said the hackers did not breach the databases of U.S. customers and the stolen employee data was not confidential or personal. The company advised employees to beware of phishing emails and exercise caution when requesting information.

Hackers hacked McDonald's and stole data on customers and employees

McDonald's also said the attackers stole emails, phone numbers and customer delivery addresses in South Korea and Taiwan. In Taiwan, hackers also stole employee information, including names and contact information, McDonald's said. The company said the number of files found was small but did not disclose the number of people affected. The hack did not contain information about payment systems used by customers, McDonald's said.

McDonald's also said its units in South Korea and Taiwan had notified Asian regulators of the breach and that they should contact affected customers and employees. The company's divisions also notified employees in South Africa and Russia of possible unauthorized access to their information.

The breach did not disrupt restaurants or involve a ransomware virus attack, McDonald's executives said. The company did not receive a buyout request or make any payments to hackers.^[5]

McDonald's Secret Unit's Surveillance of Employees Who Demand Pay Increases

At the end of February 2021, it became known that McDonald's has been using a team of analysts for many years to track employee data that requires salary increases. According to Vice, analysts from the offices of Chicago and London are following all McDonald's employees suspected of belonging to the Fight for $15 movement.

This movement to raise the minimum wage for company workers originated in 2012 and has since spilled over from the U.S. to several other countries. Activists have repeatedly staged rallies in front of the chain's restaurants and mass strikes, calling on the fast food giant to raise salaries. However, McDonald's has repeatedly rejected all calls from employees, citing the US minimum wage, which is still $7.25 an hour.

McDonald's Secret Unit Has Been Keeping Tabs on Employees Demanding Pay Increases for Years

In 2019, McDonald's formally pledged "not to use our resources, including lobbyists and staff, to counter minimum wage increases at the federal, state or local level," noting, however, that such increases should occur in phases. However, according to a Vice investigation, McDonald's secret unit is investigating the activists' strategy, finding out who is involved in the movement, and with whom they are in contact. The corporation uses social media monitoring and fake accounts as surveillance tools.

A McDonald's spokesman called false information about surveillance and the use of fake social media accounts, but confirmed that there is a team "focused on identifying any potential threats to the company's security."

We are obliged to monitor the protest activities of our employees, which may jeopardize the safety of staff and customers, the representative of the corporation added.[6]

2020: Prices for Bigmac in different countries for January

Prices for bigmac in different countries, January 2020

2019

The dismissal of the general director due to an official romance

In early November 2019, McDonald's announced  the resignation of CEO Stephen Easterbrook over an office romance. The top manager will be paid severance pay in the amount of salary for six months, writes The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing a statement from a fast food chain. Read more here.

Purchase of an AI company to launch a robot taking orders at McAvto

On September 10, 2019, McDonald's announced it would acquire Apprente. The company kept the cost and other terms of the agreement confidential. Read more here.

Purchase of AI software developer Dynamic Yield

On March 25, 2019, McDonald's announced the acquisition, Dynamic Yield but did not name the value of the transaction. According to sources, TechCrunch McDonald's paid more than $300 million, so this purchase was the largest for a fast food chain in more than 20 years. More. here

2018: New technology forces McDonald's employees to flee restaurants

In March 2018, it became known that the introduction of new technologies does not make it easier to work at McDonald's. Moreover, due to the increase in IT innovations, restaurant employees have to work harder, many cannot withstand the load and quit.

McDonald's has implemented a large number of new ones, with the electronic engineers help of which the work of staff was optimized and customer service was improved. So, in many restaurants , self-service terminals appeared, which made it possible to unload the queues. In some cafes, tablets are available with which visitors can go out, Internet visit social networks, play games, etc., while eating.

The company is actively developing the Experience of the Future project around the world, which provides for an independent order of a customer who does not need to stand in a long queue. In addition, as part of this program, the fast food chain is constantly updating menus, introducing delivery services and introducing various technological changes designed to improve the efficiency of personnel. Experience of the Future, however, backfires on workers.

Due to the increase in technological innovations, McDonald's restaurant employees have to work more, many cannot withstand the load and quit

They added a lot of tough things. This complicates the work of employees, "former McDonald's employee Dudley Dickerson told Bloomberg.

According to him, the last straw that overflowed the cup of patience was the launch of the possibility of placing orders in a mobile application. Because of this function, Dickerson quit. Other McDonald's employees also said that as a result of various technological innovations, more tasks began to be assigned to them, and often without any increase in salary.

Some restaurants have large queues due to confusion that occurs during orders through a mobile app, self-service terminals and traditional checkouts. In 2017, the average wait time for ordered food at McDonald's rose by more than 30 seconds to about 239 seconds, according to QSR magazine. Orders are processed more slowly than at rival chains such as Burger King, Wendy's and Taco Bell.

Workers prefer to be away from interacting with new technologies and menu options, which reinforces the problem of staff turnover, which is very large in the fast food industry.

By 2018, labor turnover at American fast-food restaurants had jumped to 150% - meaning 30 people pass through one cafe with a staff of 20 each year, according to the People Report. We are talking about the highest indicator since 1995, when the experts of the People Report began to conduct this study.

Michael Harms, Executive Director of Operations at People Report, linked staffing issues at fast service points to the over-rapid adoption of new technologies, as well as low salaries and high work rates.

McDonald's denied the connection of new projects with worker turnover and noted that the company and its partners are actively investing in training workers to prepare them for any changes in the restaurant.

Experience of the Future is changing the restaurant experience of our customers while at the same time focusing on improving restaurant employee experience, "McDonald's spokesman Terry Hickey told Bloomberg.

McDonald's average revenue per employee

The fact that McDonald's began to experience a shortage of personnel indirectly shows an increase in the company's average income per employee - from $65 thousand in 2016 (and the indicator slightly fluctuated around this value for several previous years - see the chart above) to a record $97 thousand in 2017.^[7]

2014: Tips for employees not to abuse McDonalds food

In January 2014, the McDonalds chain posted advice for employees on its corporate resource that you should not overuse burgers, cola and fries, since these products are not useful for the body. The "sincere recognition" of the global fast food giant caused a wave of reproaches and lawsuits addressed to the company.

2010: No. 2 chain in the world by number of restaurants

American Corporation, until 2010, the world's largest fast food chain. According to the results of 2010, the company ranks 2nd in the number of restaurants worldwide after the Subway restaurant chain. Included in the Fortune Global 500,2009 list (388th place)

1996: Opening of the first restaurants in Belarus and Lithuania

Main article: McDonald's in Belarus

Opening of the first McDonald's in Minsk, Belarus, 1996.

The McDonald's catering chain in Lithuania opened at the end of May 1996.

1970-e

McDonald's, 1970s.

1954-1961: Rey CROC gains control of the company

In 1954, Ray CROC acquired from the McDonald brothers the right to act as an exclusive franchise agent. In 1955, he opened his first McDonald's in Des Plains, Illinois (currently the corporation's museum). In 1955, Crocom incorporated McDonald's System, Inc (renamed McDonald's Corporation in 1960). In 1961, all rights to the company were fully purchased by Kroc.

1948: The company formulated the principles of "fast food" for the first time in the world

In 1948, the company formulated the principles of the concept of "fast food" for the first time in the world.

1940: Founding of the Company

The company was founded in 1940 by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. The first restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California.

The first McDonalds in the United States, 1940.

Notes