Starbucks stock has seen pressure from the pandemic, supply-chain disruptions, and unionization efforts. CEO Howard Schultz has been buying shares.
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Howard Schultz isn’t done stocking up on Starbucks shares.
Back for his third stint leading Starbucks (ticker: SBUX), Schultz has been aggressively buying the coffee retailer’s tumbling shares this month. Starbucks stock has fallen 38% in 2022 and is off 43% from its 52-week highs. The S&P 500 index is down 18% this year.
Shares have been under pressure as the company navigated the pandemic, supply-chain disruptions, and a wave of unionization efforts at Starbucks locations. When Schultz took the reins as interim CEO in April, he suspended Starbucks’ share-repurchase program and said he’d invest in employees and stores.
While the company has refrained from buying back stock, Schultz has shown no such reserve. He disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he bought $10 million in shares on May 10.
This past Monday, he disclosed another big purchase. He paid about $5 million for another 72,500 shares on May 12 at an average price of $68.85. He now owns 19.6 million shares directly, with another 2.2 million shares held through limited liability companies. Starbucks stock closed at $71.93 on Thursday.
Starbucks declined to make Schultz available for comment.
Schultz helped grow Starbucks from a small Seattle coffee chain to an international behemoth. The last time he took back the CEO reins was in 2008, amid the global financial crisis. He was succeeded by Kevin Johnson in 2017. His latest stint promises to be shorter; the board of directors is already looking for a permanent replacement.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]
