Ohio State Russia Ukraine divest pensions robots meal delivery yandex
Ohio State University will pull the plug on robots that deliver meals for GrubHub on campus after the meal service ended its partnership with Russia-based Yandex SDG.
“Ohio State affirms and supports GrubHub’s decision to end their partnership with Yandex. We are in the process of ceasing the rover delivery option after completing any deliveries that are currently out on campus,” the university said in a statement.
Grubhub had contracted with Yandex to provide about cooler-sized robots to deliver meals on more than 250 college campuses, including Ohio State University.
In a related move, state leaders asked Ohio’s five public pension systems and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, which combined have roughly $280 billion invested, to immediately divest from Russian companies.
“As Russian aggression continues to intensify against the people of Ukraine, I want to assure Ohioans that our state has no contracts with Russian businesses now, and will not have any contracts for goods and services going forward,” Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement. “We will not support Russia with Ohio taxpayer dollars.”
He directed the Ohio BWC, the state insurance fund for injured workers, to divest any of its $28 billion portfolio from Russian interests. He encouraged the retirement systems to do so as well.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told the pension fund directors they have a “moral imperative” to divest and punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
“One of Ohio’s retirement systems has approximately $112 million in Russian investments; I’m sure others have significant holdings,” Yost said in a letter sent Wednesday. He did not specify which fund holds that amount.
The pension funds have a fiduciary responsibility to manage investments in the best interest of their members. Combined, the funds have more than $250 billion invested. It is unclear how much of that may be in Russian companies.
Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund said it holds $6.5 million, or 0.3% of its total $19 billion portfolio, in Russian investments. The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the largest in the state, is currently calculating its total assets in Russia.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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