Starbucks’s New CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, Takes Coffee Chain’s Helm

Mr. Narasimhan, 55 years old, left his CEO role at U.K.-based consumer-products company

Reckitt Benckiser Group

RBGLY 0.80%

PLC last September and has spent the intervening months learning Starbucks’s culture and operations, the company said. 

Messrs. Schultz and Narasimhan have worked together closely since his arrival, both men have said. 

Mr. Schultz, who has said he has led the company for the final time, said Monday in a letter to Mr. Narasimhan and other company leaders that Starbucks was his life’s work, and that he entrusted them to lead the chain forward. 

“As I turn Starbucks over to you now, know that you have my utmost confidence, trust and love,” he wrote.

The leadership handoff comes as Starbucks executives and shareholders are set to address contentious matters facing the coffee chain. During the company’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday, investors are set to weigh several proposals pertaining to the chain’s governance and management, including its response to a unionization drive among U.S. baristas. 

For the past 18 months, pro-union baristas have been pushing to organize Starbucks cafes, saying such steps are necessary to secure better pay and working conditions. Starbucks’s management has urged workers not to form unions, saying baristas’ goals are better addressed by working directly with the company.

The National Labor Relations Board said Friday it had certified unions at 288 Starbucks stores, representing roughly 3% of the chain’s 9,300 U.S. locations. The agency had certified defeats for unionization votes at 57 locations, it said.

The NLRB has issued 82 complaints against Starbucks over allegations that the coffee chain broke federal labor law since the baristas’ unionization campaign began. The company has contested the complaints and denied it has broken rules overseeing union organizing, saying it respects its workers’ rights to organize. 

Some Starbucks shareholders are seeking more oversight of the company’s unionization approach. An investor group that includes Trillium Asset Management and New York City’s Office of the Comptroller, which oversees pension funds, filed a shareholder proposal that would require the board to hire an outside firm to assess Starbucks’s commitment to workers’ freedom of association. 

Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. have recommended that shareholders back the proposal.

Starbucks has urged its shareholders to vote against the recommendation, saying that the chain already follows U.S. law regarding worker association and that it is listening to baristas’ concerns. The company said in a securities filing earlier this month that it would conduct an independent assessment of its commitment to workers’ freedom of association, and make it public later this year. 

Mr. Narasimhan’s public position on unions is less defined than Mr. Schultz’s, who has said in past writings and statements that the company could better meet the needs of its employees than outside entities. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing chain baristas, has said it hopes the new CEO brings a different approach. 

“We would love to offer an olive branch. We are cautiously optimistic about a fresh start,” said Casey Moore, an organizer and spokeswoman for the group. 

Starbucks Workers United and other unions are expected to protest outside the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday before the annual meeting. 

Shareholders will also consider whether Starbucks should step up efforts toward future succession planning, with a separate shareholder proposal calling on the board to commit to more regular and public evaluation of future executive candidates. Mr. Schultz returned to Starbucks in April 2022 for a third stint as CEO, succeeding previous CEO

Kevin Johnson,

who retired last year. 

Starbucks has urged investors to vote against the proposal, and said its board has moved to conduct ongoing succession planning, including identifying internal candidates. The company’s board said last year that they asked Mr. Schultz to return to the company to carry on the chain’s culture as it searched for a permanent leader, and to voice his opinions on its affairs. 

Next week, Mr. Schultz is slated to testify before a Senate committee on the company’s response to cafe workers’ unionization efforts. Starbucks had said that Mr. Schultz wasn’t directly involved in union matters and had offered to send a different executive, but later agreed to have the departing CEO testify. 

Some Starbucks headquarters employees who have publicly criticized the company have discussed possibly testifying at the Senate hearing, according to workers involved in those discussions. 

Around 160 Starbucks corporate employees recently signed a public letter asking the company to revise its return-to-work policies, and to commit to a policy of neutrality when it comes to union organizing. Starbucks has said that bringing employees back to its corporate offices has helped its culture, and that the company is listening to its employees’ concerns.

Write to Heather Haddon at [email protected]

Mr. Narasimhan, 55 years old, left his CEO role at U.K.-based consumer-products company

Reckitt Benckiser Group

RBGLY 0.80%

PLC last September and has spent the intervening months learning Starbucks’s culture and operations, the company said. 

Messrs. Schultz and Narasimhan have worked together closely since his arrival, both men have said. 

Mr. Schultz, who has said he has led the company for the final time, said Monday in a letter to Mr. Narasimhan and other company leaders that Starbucks was his life’s work, and that he entrusted them to lead the chain forward. 

“As I turn Starbucks over to you now, know that you have my utmost confidence, trust and love,” he wrote.

The leadership handoff comes as Starbucks executives and shareholders are set to address contentious matters facing the coffee chain. During the company’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday, investors are set to weigh several proposals pertaining to the chain’s governance and management, including its response to a unionization drive among U.S. baristas. 

For the past 18 months, pro-union baristas have been pushing to organize Starbucks cafes, saying such steps are necessary to secure better pay and working conditions. Starbucks’s management has urged workers not to form unions, saying baristas’ goals are better addressed by working directly with the company.

The National Labor Relations Board said Friday it had certified unions at 288 Starbucks stores, representing roughly 3% of the chain’s 9,300 U.S. locations. The agency had certified defeats for unionization votes at 57 locations, it said.

The NLRB has issued 82 complaints against Starbucks over allegations that the coffee chain broke federal labor law since the baristas’ unionization campaign began. The company has contested the complaints and denied it has broken rules overseeing union organizing, saying it respects its workers’ rights to organize. 

Some Starbucks shareholders are seeking more oversight of the company’s unionization approach. An investor group that includes Trillium Asset Management and New York City’s Office of the Comptroller, which oversees pension funds, filed a shareholder proposal that would require the board to hire an outside firm to assess Starbucks’s commitment to workers’ freedom of association. 

Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. have recommended that shareholders back the proposal.

Starbucks has urged its shareholders to vote against the recommendation, saying that the chain already follows U.S. law regarding worker association and that it is listening to baristas’ concerns. The company said in a securities filing earlier this month that it would conduct an independent assessment of its commitment to workers’ freedom of association, and make it public later this year. 

Mr. Narasimhan’s public position on unions is less defined than Mr. Schultz’s, who has said in past writings and statements that the company could better meet the needs of its employees than outside entities. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing chain baristas, has said it hopes the new CEO brings a different approach. 

“We would love to offer an olive branch. We are cautiously optimistic about a fresh start,” said Casey Moore, an organizer and spokeswoman for the group. 

Starbucks Workers United and other unions are expected to protest outside the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday before the annual meeting. 

Shareholders will also consider whether Starbucks should step up efforts toward future succession planning, with a separate shareholder proposal calling on the board to commit to more regular and public evaluation of future executive candidates. Mr. Schultz returned to Starbucks in April 2022 for a third stint as CEO, succeeding previous CEO

Kevin Johnson,

who retired last year. 

Starbucks has urged investors to vote against the proposal, and said its board has moved to conduct ongoing succession planning, including identifying internal candidates. The company’s board said last year that they asked Mr. Schultz to return to the company to carry on the chain’s culture as it searched for a permanent leader, and to voice his opinions on its affairs. 

Next week, Mr. Schultz is slated to testify before a Senate committee on the company’s response to cafe workers’ unionization efforts. Starbucks had said that Mr. Schultz wasn’t directly involved in union matters and had offered to send a different executive, but later agreed to have the departing CEO testify. 

Some Starbucks headquarters employees who have publicly criticized the company have discussed possibly testifying at the Senate hearing, according to workers involved in those discussions. 

Around 160 Starbucks corporate employees recently signed a public letter asking the company to revise its return-to-work policies, and to commit to a policy of neutrality when it comes to union organizing. Starbucks has said that bringing employees back to its corporate offices has helped its culture, and that the company is listening to its employees’ concerns.

Write to Heather Haddon at [email protected]