Starbucks' former CEO Howard Schultz quits company' board after he was branded a 'distraction' over anti-unionization ranks in Congress

Daily Mail ^

[algore]

Veteran Starbucks boss Howard Schultz is stepping down from the company's board after 40 years with the company, with sources saying he realized he has become a 'distraction' for the coffee giant.

Schultz, 70, bought the company from co-founders Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker in the early 1980s, a decade after it was launched in Seattle.

Schultz pushed the company to become the world's largest coffeehouse chain, serving three stints as chairman and CEO.

He retired in 2000, then returned in 2008; stepped down in 2017, and came back as interim CEO from 2022 to March 2023.

But on Wednesday, Starbucks announced that Schultz was stepping down from the board, ending his four-decade rule.

Schultz's departure is in part due to concerns that his stridently anti-union stance was becoming a 'distraction', and the controversy was not helping the brand.

'The business has changed a ton since Howard's heyday,' a source told The New York Post.

'It doesn't make sense for him to be part of it anymore.'

At least 293 of Starbucks' 9,000 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late 2021, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The fledgling group celebrated Schultz's departure, tweeting on Tuesday: 'Howard Schultz led one of the worst union-busting campaigns in modern US history, culminating in him being forced to testify before the Senate on Starbucks' illegal actions.

'We hope this is an opportunity for Starbucks to change course and leave their union-busting behind them.'

Starbucks' anti-union stance appears set to continue under the company's new CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, who was hand-picked by Schultz and took over leadership of the company in March - shortly before Schulz testified in the Senate.

'I continue to believe a direct relationship with our partners is the best way forward,' said Narasimhan.

[algore]

I remember Starbucks before Schultz, it was a fun place that had all kinds of different coffee beans and spices, you would go in and they would grind you coffee or any mix you wanted. Sure they had some tables where you could try the coffee but it was mostly samples of their newest variety.

I think he might make a surprise run for President, if so that could force a debate between kennedy, kamala, and him, biden would never show up, at least not if it was a live debate.

[willk]

They have been around for 40 years??

[NWFree]

Such a racist company

They were forced to pay millions to a white manager for racism

[Secret Agent Man]

Happy to say I’ve never bought anything from Starbucks.

[SaveFerris]

(Howard Schultz)

Is he the Woke clown who said don’t come into Starbucks if you don’t support gay marriage?

Either way, I’ve made certain to avoid Starbucks especially since that day.

The friend who told me about it? Got mad when I said supporting Hillary was stupid. I had no idea he was a Hillary supporter.

THEN he told me that he was starting to believe...... Barack Hussein Obama.

AFTER he told me about the Starbucks thing and it offended him what their agenda was.

Strange times.......

[algore]

they were started and formed by a very different set of owners.

It was a very wonderful place where you could get the best coffee beans from all over the world.

Schultz bought the company in 81 or 82? and turned it in a different and more profitable direction.

in the beginning he and Tom O’Keefe of Tully’s battled over locations and stores, Tom was a nice guy and he got stomped on by Schultz

[tennmountainman]

Yeah. He’s THAT Woke Clown.

[SaveFerris]

Thought so.

Thanks for letting me know.

Mark 8:36-37
King James Version

36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+8%3A36-37&version=KJV

[yetidog]

Starbucks is just another word for pretense.

[Nifster]

Happy to day I could get Kona beans from them many times during the year

[Pelham]

“I think he might make a surprise run for President, if so that could force a debate between kennedy, kamala, and him, biden would never show up, at least not if it was a live debate.”

This would be the best thing ever. Like the circus meets the Hollywood Pride March.

Get your popcorn ready.

[Pelham]

Peet’s Coffee was another place supposed to be like the original Starbucks. They may still be.

[Angelino97]

I like that Starbucks still says "Christmas."

Every year, they actually sell "Christmas" coffee.

[algore]

I met Welcome Weaver and had dinner at his house once in the 70s, they sent me popcorn for Christmas every year for decades.

I need to go find some Weaver Popcorn and stock up just in case I need it.

(pretty sure either I will need either popcorn, or the death reaper chips) still not sure which yet

[Angelino97]

Both Peet’s and Starbucks stock lots of rainbow merchandise (mugs, cookies, etc.) during Pride month.

[Pelham]

I had to look him up:

https://www.huntingtoncountyhonors.org/Honorees/Welcome-Weaver

[Pelham]

“Both Peet’s and Starbucks stock lots of rainbow merchandise (mugs, cookies, etc.) during Pride month.”

There’s a poem that uses the line “The love that dare not speak its name” as a euphemism for homosexuality.

In 21st century America it’s “the love that never shuts up”.

[Dilbert San Diego]

They were just a local chain in Seattle for many years. If I recall correctly, they expanded greatly in the 1990s and early 2000s, both across America and internationally.

[Liz]

Biden niece and Obama employee w/ sensitive US govt information to peddle.
She is now a Starbuck's VP according to Linked in.

Biden’s niece Casey Owens - his sister’s child - aided and abetted Hunter’s influence peddling schemes which benefitted the Biden family's wealth accumulation.

Casey Owens official US govt trip to China was with Obama’s US Treasury delegation, "The US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue team," led by then-Treasury Secy Timothy Geithner.

During the visit, Owens was privy to sensitive US govt information WRT China's multi billion dollar sovereign wealth fund. Owens passed on the info to the opportunistic Hunter as a possible investment contact who soon followed up.

[jonrick46]

The idea of brewing coffee in an espresso machine came to Schultz when he visited Italy. I too enjoyed espresso coffee when in Naples. It was his idea to recreates those Italian coffee houses in Seattle. It was Bill Gates Sr that helped finance his first coffee house, still in business, at 1912 Pike Street in Seattle: