Starbucks’ longtime CEO stepping down
Howard Schultz, 63, the leader of Starbucks, will hand off the management of the company he built into the world’s largest coffee business.
SEATTLE — Howard Schultz, the leader of Starbucks, said on Thursday he would step down as chief executive next year, handing over to his personally selected successor the management of the company he built into the world’s largest coffee business, with over 25,000 stores in 75 countries.
Schultz, one of the most visible U.S. chief executives, has made Starbucks a vocal part of the national conversation on issues like gun violence, gay rights, race relations, veterans rights and student debt. The handover will take place on April 3, and he will remain at the company as executive chairman.
Schultz, 63, will be succeeded by his friend Kevin Johnson, 56, the current president and a longtime Starbucks board member who once worked for Microsoft.
“This is a big day for me,” Schultz said in an interview. “I love the company as much as I love my family.”
But he said he decided it was
the right time to hand the keys to Johnson, whom he described as being “better equipped” to “run the company than I am,” ticking off a list of Johnson’s operational talents, saying that he wanted to “relinquish the role and responsibility to the right person.”
The move is likely to ignite renewed speculation about whether Schultz is paving the way to leave the company entirely to enter politics. His outspoken positions on social issues have led many people to say he may run for president. He has a close relationship with President Barack Obama and had been a supporter of Hillary Clinton.
Schultz will continue to lead Starbucks’ efforts on social issues as well as its effort to develop a superpremium line of coffee and coffee stores. The latter has been a passion project for Schultz that he hopes will “shine a halo on the entire company.”
This is the second time Schultz has sought to step back. He became chairman in 2000 but returned as CEO in 2008 after firing the installed chief, James Donald, as sales faltered.