Howard Schultz: Former Chairman and CEO of Starbucks
Business Owner · Food & Beverage
Howard Schultz turned Starbucks into the world's largest coffee-house chain, twice leading it as CEO and returning during the 2008 financial crisis to restructure the business.
About Howard Schultz: Former Chairman and CEO of Starbucks
Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who was chairman and chief executive of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2017, and interim CEO from 2022 to 2023. He also owned the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team from 2001 to 2006. Schultz began working at Starbucks in 1982. He later left to open Il Giornale, a specialty coffee shop that merged with Starbucks in the late 1980s. Under his leadership Starbucks built a vast network of stores that reshaped coffee culture in Seattle, the United States and abroad. He took the company public in 1992, using a $271 million valuation to double the store count in a series of highly publicized coffee wars, and Starbucks became the largest coffee-house chain in the world. He stepped down as CEO in 2000, succeeded by Orin Smith. His rapid expansion earned him a description as the "Ray Kroc of his generation". During the 2008 financial crisis Schultz returned as chief executive, led a mass firing of executives and employees, and shuttered hundreds of stores. He oversaw acquisitions of American and Chinese beverage companies, introduced a national loyalty program and enforced fair-trade standards; his aggressive expansion in China has been credited with reconciling the country's tea culture with coffee. Kevin Johnson succeeded him as CEO in April 2017. Schultz has written four books, publicly weighed independent runs for president in 2012, 2016 and 2020 but declined each time, and started the Schultz Family Foundation to help military veterans and fight youth unemployment. Forbes estimated his net worth at $4.3 billion in October 2020. Sources: English Wikipedia (Howard Schultz, accessed September 2026).
Basic Information
Former Chairman and CEO, Starbucks
Company Details
Starbucks
Coffee, Food & Beverage, Retail
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