Execs: Schultz ends four-decade run at Starbucks

Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz announced this week he is stepping down at the end of June, said Zlati Meyer in USA Today. Schultz joined the Seattle-based coffee chain in 1982, when it had just four stores, and as CEO beginning in 1986 “shepherded it into a global heavyweight,” with more than 28,000 outposts in 77 countries. The 64-year-old, who handed off his CEO duties to Kevin Johnson in April last year, plans to write a book on Starbucks’ “social impact work” and consider whether to pursue a rumored run for elected office.