In a Few Months, CEO of Starbucks Collected $96M

Brian Niccol made 6.6K times what a barista is paid, company says
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 25, 2025 1:15 PM CST
Starbucks CEO's Compensation Is 6.6K Times a Barista's
Brian Niccol, then CEO of Taco Bell, speaks during an interview in June 2015 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Since Brian Niccol was hired at Starbucks in September, it's hard to argue his compensation hasn't been grande. A new company securities filing shows that the chief executive and chairman has collected about $96 million, the Wall Street Journal reports, most of which was in bonuses and stock awards as incentives to accept the job. The company said that amount is 6,666 times what Starbucks' median US employee, a part-time barista, made last year: $14,674 in wages and stocks, the company said. Niccol's package breaks down this way:

  • Compensation: $61,538 in salary, a $5 million bonus, and $90 million in stock awards. The stocks piece largely is tied to shares he forfeited when he left Chipotle Mexican Grill for Starbucks. Another $5 million bonus is due Niccols in February.
  • Expenses: $72,398 for air travel, $143,567 for temporary housing, and almost $700,000 for security modifications to Niccol's home. He lives in California and commutes to Starbucks' Seattle office on a corporate jet, a perk he won in negotiations. The company said he's also traveling to areas where stores most need his intervention.

The filing puts a rough price tag on Starbucks' decision to change bosses last year, Restaurant Business Magazine points out. Laxman Narasimhan, who did not hold the title of chairman, collected $21.5 million to leave, including $14.4 million in stock awards and $5.9 million in other compensation—$4.2 million of which was a severance payment. He's to receive another $4.2 million in cash severance 18 months after his departure date, the filing says. Niccols was given a mandate to make changes in the chain of coffee shops, and he's said he expects to announce job cuts in March, per the Journal. (More Brian Niccol stories.)

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