Posted on 08/14/2024 4:01:49 AM PDT by lasereye
With one stunning press release on a mid-summer morning perfect for a $7 cold brew, Starbucks' board has moved decisively to end its crisis and unlock a new decade of possibilities.
Starbucks share price fell over 1% on Wednesday after the ailing coffee chain shocked its investors on Tuesday by announcing Chipotle (CMG) chairman and CEO Brian Niccol as its CEO, effective Sept. 9. Niccol, 50, will assume the position from Lax Narasimhan, who was on the job for less than 18 months.
He'll take the chairman role from founder Howard Schultz's friend and confidant Mellody Hobson. Hobson will rotate to being an independent director, potentially a first step to her rolling off the board within the next 12-18 months.
This as the company fends off recent activist attacks from Elliott Management and Starboard Value.
Elliott wanted corporate governance overhauls, I previously reported. It got that for the most part in today's moves.
Make no mistake—Starbucks is currently an icon in crisis. Don't believe me? Let's review the facts.
First, the company's financial results and share price have been dreadful.
Its most recent quarter showed a 6% drop in North America transactions as consumers shunned the chain's ever-pricier coffees and long wait times.
International sales tanked 7%. Chinese comparable sales plunged 14%, spurring execs to say on the earnings call it's exploring strategic options for the business. Non-GAAP operating profits declined to 16.7% from 17.4%.
The company's prior quarter wasn't too hot, either.
Starbucks shares were down 20% over the past five years before the pop today. The S&P 500 is up 85%. Chipotle is up 201%.
"Fixable, but it will take time," a Starbucks insider with knowledge of the company's many troubles recently told me.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Buy my own coffee beans and drip brew my own coffee.
I love that in America I have clean water and electricity to heat water nearly instantly.
I can buy and make my own eggs and bacon too!
Starbucks is proof that people can get used to anything.
Here’s a hint for the new CEO, stop pushing burnt coffee.
I’m not a coffee drinker and never had a dog in the Starbucks fight. When some of the baristas started getting edgy, however, I always thought the solution was some kind of employee buyout plan. Create an option for the baristas to buy the franchise, or pool their resources and partner with someone to open a franchise of their own. That would shut them up fast.
The Starbucks chain pushed out many indie coffee stands from local venues who couldn’t fight the behemoth intruder steamrolling in. I have no sympathy for them.
Not one reference of clarification of what “uncorking the Bazooka” means in this article. Was the Editor drunk?
A $5 cup of coffee is a luxury for good times.
Electric kettle and instant when I’m lazy, ground (not pulverized) beans and a French Press when I want something to enjoy.
$7 for a cup of coffee? I can get a big can of coffee for ≈ $10. Makes about 40 pots of coffee.
Starbucks wants to market the concept that the purchase of a cup of coffee makes the purchaser cooler than those who didn’t. Which is a load of hogwash. Purchasing Starbucks shows only how stupid the purchaser is with his money.
Truer words were never spoken.
I don’t know the inside scoop on Starbucks, but DEI has infected many C-suites in companies like Starbucks...and that has left festering infections everywhere in corporate America even after the problematic executives were removed.
“…as consumers shunned the chain’s ever-pricier coffees and long wait times.”
There isn’t one business large or small between my house, my truck yard and the Long Island expressway that can get your ass out the door in the morning the way they used to back when I started out. Not one. Rushes were the money makers and getting people in and out in two or three minutes was REQUIRED. Out of high school I worked in a deli and all of the clerks could make a seven instruction sliced to order sandwhich in 45 seconds. They don’t even try now. Who’s running all of these businesses I can’t imagine.
It’s trying to cash in on the artisanal vibe, so: a large corporation posing as hipster and edgy. Like Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Or innumerable clothing and accessory brands. It’s the commodification of cool, and if enough consumers take the bait and pay a premium for synthetic branding, it is smart marketing. But that’s an illusion that is hard to sustain when the company gets big enough and old enough to be part of the background noise.
“uncorking the Bazooka”
That caught my eye too. How old is the author? What on earth does the word “bazooka” even mean to someone under sixty? Maybe it’s in some video game somewhere?
Maxed out credit cards don’t allow a person to spend $5 on coffee
How does one uncork a bazooka ?
I never buy coffee from women who wear a ring in their nose.
And now there are dozens of choices, but I still see lines around the store at the Black Rock store near me, I’m sure their prices are comparable.
I have a small hard plastic with round paper filters(I know it’s toxic..whatever) French Press that is perfect for my morning or pre-work commute. Don’t have an entire pot and it allows me to make as much as my Yeti can carry.
I’m thinking of grinding my own but dang if I don’t like the Dunkin Donut original blend. Just dump in a little cream, honey or sugar and I’m good to go.
I wouldn’t give money to that hive mind liberal enclave....I’m not saying that I’d want every blue haired, nose ringed, pale/pasty, ear gauged, twat to get fired....but if I read about it ... I’d smile.
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