Howard Schultz is a Jewish-American business executive best known as the visionary leader behind the global expansion of :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}, the world’s most famous coffeehouse chain.

Howard Schultz was born on July 19, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, to Ashkenazi Jewish parents Fred Schultz and Elaine Schultz. His father worked as a truck driver, while his mother was a receptionist. He grew up in a working-class family and has two siblings. After graduating from Canarsie High School, Schultz attended Northern Michigan University between 1971 and 1975, earning a bachelor’s degree in communications.

In 1976, Howard Schultz began his professional career as a sales representative at Xerox in New York. In 1979, he was recruited by the French private equity firm PAI Partners to serve as General Manager of the U.S. subsidiary of Swedish kitchenware manufacturer Hammarplast. While overseeing the company’s U.S. operations for coffee machine products, Schultz visited Seattle in 1981 to fulfill plastic cone filter orders for Starbucks Coffee Company.

The first Starbucks store had been founded in 1971 at Pike Place Market in Seattle by teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Gordon Bowker, and writer Zev Siegel. In 1982, Howard Schultz joined Starbucks as Director of Retail Operations and Marketing. During a buying trip to Milan, Italy, in 1983, he was inspired by Italian espresso bars and became convinced that Starbucks should serve traditional espresso-based beverages in addition to coffee beans, tea, and spices.

Although a pilot café concept proved successful, Starbucks’ owners were concerned about the high cost of espresso machines, limited technical expertise in the U.S., and American consumers’ unfamiliarity with espresso. As a result, they declined to expand the concept further. Determined to pursue his vision, Howard Schultz resigned from Starbucks in 1985.

To launch his own business, Schultz raised 400,000 USD and visited more than 500 espresso bars in Milan. In 1986, he opened his first café under the name Il Giornale, offering coffee and ice cream, minimal seating, and opera music in the background. Two years later, in 1988, he sold Il Giornale for 3.8 million USD.

When the original Starbucks owners acquired Peet’s Coffee & Tea, they sold Starbucks to Schultz. He rebranded his company under the Starbucks name, merging his espresso-bar concept with the Starbucks brand. Under Howard Schultz’s leadership, Starbucks rapidly expanded across the United States.

On June 1, 2000, Schultz stepped down as CEO to become Chief Global Strategist, focusing on international expansion. He was succeeded by Orin Smith. On January 7, 2008, amid the global financial crisis, Schultz returned as CEO, replacing Jim Donald. In December 2016, he again stepped down as CEO and became Executive Chairman.

Howard Schultz retired from Starbucks in 2018 but returned on April 4, 2022, as Interim CEO and Board Member. In 2023, he assumed the role of Honorary Chairman and resigned from the Board of Directors.

Under his guidance, Starbucks expanded internationally, opening stores in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Chicago, followed by its first international location in Tokyo, Japan, in 1996. By January 2, 2022, Starbucks operated more than 34,000 stores across 65 countries, becoming the world’s largest coffeehouse chain. The first Starbucks store in Turkey opened in 2003 on Bağdat Avenue in Istanbul, and by May 2023, the country had 663 locations.

In 1998, Howard Schultz co-founded the venture capital firm Maveron with Dan Levitan, focusing on early-stage, consumer-oriented companies, with offices in Seattle, Washington D.C., and San Francisco.

Howard Schultz married Sheri Kersch Schultz in 1982. The couple has two children, Eliahu Jordan Schultz and Addison Schultz. According to Forbes, his net worth was estimated at approximately 3.3 billion USD in 2024.

Beyond business, Howard Schultz was also the owner of the NBA team Seattle SuperSonics from 2001 to 2006.

Source: Biyografiler.com