McDonald’s lost approximately $7 billion in value within hours after its Chief Financial Officer, Ian Borden, announced today, Wednesday, the continuing impact of the boycott in the Arab region and the Islamic world on sales during the current year.
Since last October, the Arab and Islamic worlds have witnessed a boycott campaign against companies that are seen as supportive of Israel in its war on Gaza, including McDonald’s.
During Wednesday’s trading, McDonald’s shares plummeted by over 3%, heading towards recording the biggest daily loss in 5 weeks.
The company’s stock declined by 3.37% or $9.93 to $284.36 at the time of writing this report, resulting in a loss of $6.87 billion for the company.
This came after Borden acknowledged that international sales would gradually decrease in the current quarter due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and weak demand in China.
Borden stated at the Global Consumer and Retail Conference that comparable sales for the first quarter in the licensed international developmental markets sector of McDonald’s would be “slightly lower” than the previous three-month period.
The consecutive losses of the company, the most widespread restaurant chain in the world, are facing troubles with the continuing boycott campaigns against it.
Customers in the Arab and Islamic worlds were angered after McDonald’s in Israel announced last October that it would provide free meals to Israeli soldiers.
In an attempt to mitigate this anger, some McDonald’s branches in the Arab region announced donations to aid Gaza.
Last month, Chris Kempczinski, the president and chief executive officer of McDonald’s, warned that “misinformation” in the Middle East and elsewhere was damaging sales.
The company did not widely meet Wall Street’s estimates for fourth-quarter sales in this sector in February, partly due to protests and boycott campaigns against many Western brands due to their supportive stance towards Israel in its aggression on Gaza for more than 5 months.
