Starbucks CEO to Irked Shareholder: Sell Your Stock

The CEO of Starbucks took some flak at yesterday's shareholders meeting for the company's support of gay marriage, which has triggered a boycott by the National Organization for Marriage. CEO Howard Schultz responded that "not every decision is an economic decision," reports the Puget Sound Business Journal, which seemed to win the audience over. This exchange between the two men, picked up by Seattle's KPLU, is now getting some attention:

• Shareholder: “In the first full quarter after this boycott was announced, our sales and our earrings—shall we say politely—were a bit disappointing."
• Schultz: “If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38% you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company."

(More Starbucks stories.)