Howard Schultz Essay

Howard Schultz was born in Brooklyn, mail-new York, in 1953. With little m angiotensin-converting enzymey, both parents worked long hours to support the family. To escape be poor young Howard turned to sports and played football, baseball, and basketball. He went to Canarsie High School, from which he graduated in 1971. He did so well in eminent school that he was awarded an athletic scholarship to Northern Michigan University. When he left New York to go to college, Shultzs father was a humble man. He had never gotten ahead in both of his low-paying jobs and was rarely shown any respect by his employers. Because of his familys financial troubles, Schultz made the most of his college days, both athletically and academically. He received a bachelors degree in business and marketing in 1975, proud to be the first component of his family to attend college. In 1981, Howard Schultz, vice president and general manager of U.S. trading operations for Hammarplasta Swedish maker of sty lish kitchen equipment and housewaresnoticed that Starbucks was placing larger orders than Macys was for a certain type of drip coffeemaker.Howard Schultz joins Starbucks in 1982. While on a business trip in Italy, he visits Milans storied espresso bars. Impressed with their popularity and culture, he sees their potential in Seattle. Hes mature after trying lattes and mochas, Seattle quickly becomes coffee-crazy.But back in Seattle, the Starbucks owners resisted Schultzs plans to administer coffee in the stores, saying they didnt want to get into the eating house business. Frustrated, Schultz quit and started his own coffee-bar business, called Il Giornale. It was successful, and a year later Schultz bought Starbucks for $3.8 million. In 1998 Howard Schultz had ample reason to be proud of what Starbucks had accomplished during his past 11 years as the companys chief executive officer. The company had enjoyed phenomenal appendage and become one of the great retailing stories o f recent history by making exceptional coffee drinks and selling dark-roasted coffee beans and coffee-making equipment that would allow customers to create from raw material an exceptional cup of coffee at home.The Starbucks brand was regarded as one of the best known and most potent brand names in America and the company had firmly established itself as the dominant retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee in North America. It already had over 1,500 stores in North America and the Pacific Rim and was opening new ones at a rate of more than one per day. Sales in fiscal year 1997 were a record $967 million and profits reached an all-time extravagantly of $57.4 million. The companys closest competitorhad fewer than 300 retail locations. And since going public in 1992, Starbucks has seen its stock price increase roughly nine fold. He is best known as the chairman and CEO of Starbucks and a former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics. Schultz co-founded Maveron, an investment gro up, in 1998 with Dan Levitan. In 2012, Forbes pickup ranked Schultz as the 354th richest person in the United States, with a clear up worth of $1.5 billion.