Howard Schultz bids farewell to Starbucks after 40 Years

Starbucks Corporation has announced that Howard Schultz is stepping down as executive chairman and member of the Board of Directors and will take on the title of chairman emeritus effective June 26 this year.

During his four decades as CEO and chairman, Schultz grew Starbucks from 11 stores to more than 28,000 stores in 77 countries. Under Schultz’s leadership, Starbucks said it has delivered a 21,000% gain in the value of its stock price since its initial public offering in 1992. The company’s growth was fuelled by his decisions to provide uncommon benefits for those who work for Starbucks, including comprehensive healthcare, stock ownership and free college tuition, even for those working part-time.

“I set out to build a company that my father, a blue-collar worker and World War II veteran, never had a chance to work for,” Schultz wrote in a letter addressed to past and present Starbucks partners. “Together we’ve done that, and so much more, by balancing profitability and social conscience, compassion and rigor, and love and responsibility.”

Schultz’s journey began in 1981, when he walked into the first Starbucks store, located in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. The following year, he moved with his wife, Sheri, from New York to assume the role of director of operations and marketing. Schultz’s passion for the highest quality coffee heightened on a business trip to Italy, where he was captivated by the sense of community, romance and theatre found in Italian coffee bars. In the years following his return to Seattle, Schultz purchased Starbucks with the support of local investors and dedicated his career to bringing his vision of a modern coffee house to life in the US and around the world.

Schultz elevated the concept of Starbucks as the third place between home and work: a comfortable, welcoming environment that provides uplifting experiences, community and human connection.

On April 3, 2017, Schultz transitioned from CEO to executive chairman, shifting his full-time focus to the company’s social impact initiatives as well as innovation and global development of the company’s premium Reserve brand, including Starbucks Reserve Roasteries, Reserve stores and the Company’s partnership with renowned artisanal Italian bakery, Princi.

Following his transition off the Starbucks board at the end of June, Schultz will oversee the opening of the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Milan on September 6 – marking the company’s long-awaited entry into Italy – and the New York Roastery in late October.

Starbucks also announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Myron E. “Mike” Ullman as its new chair of the Board and Mellody Hobson as vice chair of the Board effective upon Schultz’s retirement.

By Muneerah Bee