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Starbucks Appoints Lakshman Narasimhan as CEO

Today, March 20, the Starbucks coffee chain announcedthat as of today, Lakshman Narasimhan has assumed the duties of its CEO. He succeeded company founder Howard Schultz in this post. Mr Narasimhan was announced to be CEO of Starbucks in September. True, it was initially assumed that he would take this post only in April. Previously, Mr. Narasimhan headed the British company Reckitt Benckiser, which produces hygiene, health and food products.

The previous year, Starbucks’ CEO was Howard Schultz, who held the position for the third time, first leading the chain from the 1980s to 2000, and then again from 2008 to 2017. He took over the company for the third time in April last year after CEO Kevin Johnson stepped down. Mr. Schultz led Starbucks during a difficult period for the company – like other catering chains, it suffered from a pandemic, its shares fell.

During the year of his leadership, Mr. Schultz took several serious steps. So, he suspended the share buyback program, saying that these funds need to be invested in the business. In addition, he presented a company renewal plan that includes the purchase of new equipment that automates some operations and speeds up customer service, changes to coffee shop menus, loyalty program upgrades, etc. 500 by 13%. At the same time, some of Mr. Schultz’s actions caused sharp criticism – first of all, his harsh rejection of trade unions, which coffee shop employees have recently begun to create more and more actively. At the end of March, Mr. Schultz will even have to appear before the US Senate, which will question him about the suppression of unions in the company.

Starbucks shares are up 1% today.

Yana Rozhdestvenskaya

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