The former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, is drinking in a Starbucks cup while testifying to an audience of the Senatorial Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to answer questions about business respect with labor law on Capitol Hill in Washington., United States, March 29, 2023.
Julia Nikhinson | Reuters
Las Vegas, nev. – Ancient Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said on Wednesday that he “made a cart wheel” in his living room when the current CEO Brian Niccol first invented his “Back to Starbucks” strategy.
The enthusiasm of President Emeritus of Starbucks, 71, is an overview of Niccol's approval while he is trying to raise sales of the business and restore the culture of the channel.
Schultz, who brought Starbucks from a small channel to a global coffee giant, made a surprise appearance to the company leadership experience in Las Vegas and co -signed Niccol's plans. The three-day event brought together more than 14,000 North American store leaders to hear the management of Starbucks while the company is embarking on a turnaround.
Niccol took the reins in September, joining the company after the board of directors ousted Laxman Narasimhan, the successor of Schultz. After a rocky start of the year, Starbucks' actions have climbed almost 20% since early April. They are now negotiated at around $ 95.30, just shy from the place where they closed on August 13, after a leap of almost 25% of the day Niccol was appointed CEO.
Schultz had returned in 2022 for his third pass as a managing director, but it was only an interim role. He previously told CNBC that he did not intend to return. Schultz no longer has an official role in the company, although CNBC previously reported that he still had the right to attend the meetings of the board of directors unless the administrators of the company.
Schultz was formerly one of the largest shareholders in the company, but he sold his Starbucks assets between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, according to Factseet data.
During the first week of Niccol on work, he described the plans for the return to an open letter, which makes the commitment to recover “Starbucks”. More details on how the chain planned to return to its roots followed in the months that followed, to bring seats inside the cafes to write personalized messages on cups. Under Niccol's leadership, business marketing has moved to focus on its coffee, rather than discounts and promotions.
When Starbucks announced the dismissal of Narasimhan and the hiring of Niccol, Schultz published a declaration of support, saying that the CEO of the time was the leader that the company needs. However, the leadership experience marks the first time that Niccol and Schultz appeared publicly together.
During the short term of Narasimhan as CEO, Schultz did not hay the words when the performance of the company did not succeed in its expectations. After a lamentable quarterly quarterly report, he weighed publicly on LinkedIn, claiming that the company must improve its mobile order and pay an experience and revise the way it creates new drinks to focus on premium items that distinguish it.
But Schultz said that Starbucks were going further than operational problems and drinks and dull food and food.
“Culture was not understood. Culture was not valued. Culture was not maintained,” he said on Wednesday.
– Tom Rotunno of CNBC contributed to this report