Starbucks founder Howard Schultz will step down from the company’s board of directors effective Wednesday, the company said.
Schultz, who bought Starbucks from its original owners in 1987, built the company into a global coffee powerhouse with more than 36,000 locations in countries from the US to Japan. He also positioned the chain as a “third place” between home and work, where guests could linger and enjoy an espresso.
The 70-year-old chairman emeritus served as CEO three times and returned twice to helm the company after it faltered under his successors. Last year, he selected and trained veteran executive Laxman Narasimhan, 56, as the first outside CEO to lead Starbucks.
Also on Wednesday, the company appointed Wei Zhang, a former senior advisor to Alibaba Group, as director effective October 1. In a previous role, Zhang led the Chinese conglomerate’s international business and media strategy. China, Starbucks’ second-largest market, is crucial to its growth prospects.
In his most recent stint as CEO, Schultz led a company that was very different from the one he founded. Today, 75% of Starbucks’ drinks sold are cold, and customers are increasingly ordering drinks to-go through the app and at drive-thrus. Guests also personalize handmade drinks even more. That led to bottlenecks in the stores, prompting the director to devise a plan to streamline operations through a series of equipment upgrades.
Schultz also faced a unionization campaign in bars as workers demanded better wages and hours. Judges and prosecutors have accused the company of violating labor laws, which Schultz denied during a hearing before Congress earlier this year, shortly after his departure as CEO.
The company’s shares fell less than 1% after the close of trading in New York. The stock was down 2.3% this year through Wednesday’s close, while the S&P 500 restaurant index rose 7%.