- Company
- Starbucks
- Role
- Former Chairman & CEO
- Est. Net Worth
- $5 Billion
- Stage
- Elite
- Industry
- Hospitality
Howard Schultz
Former Chairman & CEO at Starbucks
About
Howard Schultz transformed Starbucks from a small Seattle coffee bean retailer into the world's largest coffeehouse chain, with over 35,000 stores across 80 countries. After visiting Italian espresso bars in 1983 and falling in love with their communal atmosphere, he convinced Starbucks' founders to let him test espresso drinks, eventually buying the company in 1987 for $3.8 million. Schultz's vision wasn't just about coffee — it was about creating a 'third place' between home and work where people could gather. He pioneered employee benefits including health insurance for part-time workers and stock options for baristas, establishing Starbucks as a model for purpose-driven capitalism before the concept had a name.
Current Company
Starbucks — Former Chairman & CEO
The Third Place Revolution
When Howard Schultz walked into a Starbucks store in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1981, the company sold only whole coffee beans and brewing equipment — no brewed coffee, no espresso drinks, no seating. Two years later, a trip to Milan changed his vision entirely. He watched Italians gather in espresso bars that served as neighborhood living rooms — places where people lingered, talked, and built community around small cups of strong coffee. He returned to Seattle convinced that America needed its own version of this communal experience.
Starbucks' founders were skeptical, so Schultz left to start his own coffee bar chain, Il Giornale, before returning in 1987 to buy Starbucks outright for $3.8 million. His vision of the 'third place' — a comfortable gathering spot between home and work — was revolutionary not because of the coffee itself but because it redefined what a retail transaction could include. Schultz was selling an experience, an environment, a daily ritual. The fact that the product was coffee was almost incidental to the business model, which was really about providing a consistent, welcoming atmosphere that people would visit daily.
Building a Purpose-Driven Empire
Schultz's most lasting contribution to American business may not be the coffeehouse concept but the employee benefits model he pioneered. In 1988, Starbucks became one of the first companies in America to offer health insurance to part-time workers — employees who worked as few as 20 hours per week received full medical, dental, and vision coverage. He followed that with Bean Stock, a program that gave stock options to all employees, including baristas, making Starbucks one of the first retailers to treat frontline workers as stakeholders rather than interchangeable labor.
These policies were considered radical and financially reckless at the time — analysts warned that benefits costs would destroy margins. Instead, Starbucks experienced dramatically lower turnover than its competitors, saving on recruiting and training costs while building a workforce that actually cared about the customer experience. Schultz proved that investing in employees wasn't charity — it was good business. His model became the template for a generation of companies that would later brand themselves as purpose-driven, though few matched the consistency with which Schultz applied the principle across 35,000 stores worldwide.