McDonald’s Corp. reported its worst global sales decline in recent memory, with drive-thrus and delivery unable to make up for the blows from pandemic shutdowns and consumer caution.
The fast-food company’s total same-store sales in the second quarter dropped 23.9%, slightly worse than what analysts had been expecting despite getting mid-quarter updates throughout the spring—and the worst performance in Bloomberg data going back to at least 2005. That was dragged down by a 41.4% plunge in its international operated markets unit, which includes stores in countries such as Spain, the U.K. and France.