"I humbly recognize and share both your concern and your disappointment in how the company has performed and how that has affected your investment in Starbucks," Schultz told investors. "I promise you this will not stand."
So spake Howard Schultz at the annual shareholder meeting. Then he announced the solution: Starbucks is buying Clover, a Ballard company that makes coffee machines. And maybe start serving energy drinks.
Not enough. Schultz--like Bush--doesn't seem to understand that he has squandered his goodwill, that no amount of fair-trade, shade-grown coffee is going to bring harmony to the espresso battlefield, no amount of shiny new hardware is going to win back the loyalty of stockholders.
And did you have to sell the Sonics out from under us?
Schultz--like Bush--seems to suffer from hubris, from a sense of entitlement that victory should be his because he has the best narrative. So what happened?
"You have an economy that is really in a tailspin," Schultz admits.
But the small pleasurs of a latte were supposed to be the antidote to hard times; Starbucks was supposed to be recession-proof. A shame, a real shame that the green Starbucks dot, like Gatsby's green light, is tarnished, now forever out of reach.
Posted by Ronald Holden at March 20, 2008 9:33 AM
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"I humbly recognize and share both your concern and your disappointment in how the company has performed and how that has affected your investment in Starbucks," Schultz told investors. "I promise you this will not stand."
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