Starbucks, a global coffee corporation, announced Thursday that Laxman Narasimhan, a native of India, has been named CEO. According to ANI, he will start working at Starbucks on October 1, succeeding Howard Schultz, who will remain in an interim capacity as CEO until April 2023.
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, the makers of Lysol and Enfamil infant formula, are headquartered in the United Kingdom, and its CEO is Indian national Narasimhan, 55.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Starbucks’ chairperson Mellody Hobson said the business is confident it has identified a standout candidate in Narasimhan, who has shown himself as a capable leader.
According to the corporation, the new CEO will move from London to the Seattle region on September 30 and start working at Starbucks on October 1.
“To help transition to a new CEO, we’ve asked Schultz to stay on as interim CEO until April 2023. On April 1, Narasimhan will take over as CEO. The biggest coffee company in the world is handing over operations to him, “The Wall Street Journal reported what Hobson had to say.
In an effort to convince workers in Buffalo, New York, who were contemplating organising a union, Howard Schultz visited the area in November 2016 to make his case for why Starbucks would be the ideal employer.
If Starbucks was going to achieve its expansion plans, it would need to hire more people. More than 20,000 cafes are planned for opening throughout the world by the end of the decade, according to the firm. The stock’s popularity among investors must also be raised. Since Schultz’s comeback was announced last year, Starbucks stock has increased by around 8%, outperforming other restaurant industry shares in recent months.
After purchasing the first Starbucks coffee shop in Seattle in 1987, Schultz shaped the brand and the Starbucks experience by making the chain’s cafes a pleasant place to linger over cappuccinos and lattes. Also, he was instrumental in developing the company’s offerings for its baristas and other workers, which Schultz claimed were more generous than those of most retailers because they paid for things like healthcare, vacation time, and other perks for anyone working at least 20 hours per week for the company.
A regulatory filing reveals that Narasimhan would get a yearly base pay of $1.3 million (about Rs 10 crore). To make up for the incentives he would lose by leaving Reckitt Benckiser, the new CEO will get a $1.5 million (Rs 12 crore) cash signing bonus and a replacement equity award with a target value of $9.25 million (about Rs 73 crore).
In addition, Narasimhan will be entitled to receive yearly equity awards totaling $13.6 million beginning in the fiscal year 2023. (Over Rs 107 crore). To assume his new position as the CEO, Narasimhan will have to relocate from London to Seattle, where the company is headquartered. His appointment is effective from October 1, 2022.
“Starbucks’ commitment to uplift humanity through connection and compassion has long distinguished the company, building an unrivalled, globally admired brand that has transformed the way we connect over coffee. I am humbled to be joining this iconic company at such a pivotal time, as the reinvention and investments in the partner and customer experiences position us to meet the changing demands we face today and set us up for an even stronger future,” Narasimhan said.
