Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who will step down in April, can walk in and out of the job without giving up any of his salary or net worth. Starbucks-brand coffee, ice cream, and bottled cold coffee drinks are also sold at grocery stores. Starbucks acquired the company as part of its $72 million purchase of Seattle's Best Coffee in 2003. Starbucks is a publicly held company - so the answer to your questions “lots of people and institutions”.

Starbucks operates six roasteries with tasting rooms and 43 coffee bars as part of the program. They opened up at … After they saw that Peet was getting a lot of business by selling coffee, the three founders wanted to open up a shop and sell coffee beans and coffee. The expansion of Starbucks was aggressive, following the business philosophy of having stores in high-traffic, high-visibility areas. The three Starbucks founders had two things in common; they were all coming from academia, and they all loved coffee and tea. Zev Siegel, Gordon Bowker, and Jerry Baldwin were inspired by a Dutch immigrant named Alfred Peet. The leadership beliefs and principles that have guided Schultz (and the world-class Starbucks brand) are culled from interviews, speeches, and books over the past four decades. More than just a coffee and pastry shop, Starbucks stores are famous around the world for their uniquely branded customer experience which is more a way of life and one envisioned under the leadership of Shultz. He was the owner of ‘Peet’s Coffee and Tea’, which was opened up in Berkeley, California in 1966. By 2005, Starbucks had closed all Torrefazione Italia locations.
Two years later, under Schultz, Starbucks was operating 46 stores around the Midwest and the Northwest. Starbucks was founded by Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Zev Siegl, opening its first store in 1971 near the historic Pike Place Market in Seattle.

There are 1.45 billion shares outstanding. Under the new owner, Starbucks went on to open stores in Chicago and Vancouver, British Columbia. As of this quarter - 2.79% are held by insiders (people on the board or in management who have inside knowledge of its business activities). The first Starbucks opened in Seattle, Washington, on March 31, 1971, by three partners who met while they were students at the University of San Francisco: English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegl, and writer Gordon Bowker were inspired to sell high-quality coffee beans and equipment by coffee roasting entrepreneur Alfred Peet after he taught them his style of roasting beans. In 2010, the company began its Starbucks Reserve program for single-origin coffees and high-end coffee shops. Starbucks was founded in 1971.