A Russian Signal: Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft: Are These Outfits Tuned In?
February 15, 2016
I read “Russian Official Says Google And Apple Have Hit ‘Point Of No Return’.” If accurate, the information presented in the write up is bad, bad news for the giant American outfits selling in Russia. I learned:
Speaking to Bloomberg, Russia’s “Internet Czar” German Klimenko said that Google and Apple will need to pay higher amounts of taxes to the Russian government.
I noted a wonderful quote, although the US companies might not think the statement is worthy of a motivational poster:
“We are breeding the cow and they are milking it,” Klimenko [Russia’s Internet tsar] told Bloomberg. He added, “When you buy an app from Google Play or the App Store anywhere in Europe, VAT is charged at the place of payment, but not here in our banana republic.”
I like the cow reference. Cash cow from the BCG star, dog, and question mark thing which harkens back to General Eisenhower and forward to the azure chip consulting crowd.
Worth monitoring along with the flight reliability of the SU 35, the Russian military drills, and the Russian tax authorities’ approach to some cash generating US outfits.
The write up points out:
Klimenko also alleged that companies like Google can track “everything” and responded to 32,000 requests a year from U.S. law-enforcement agencies but won’t help Russian agencies with similar requests.
Imagine life without Windows. No Apple hardware. No Google. Maybe there is more to the tax move than just hard cash.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2016
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