Starbucks
"I feel this is a natural bookend to my 13 years with the company," Johnson said in a statement.
Schultz has an even longer history with the company: he served as the company's CEO for more than thirty years, taking the number of franchise locations from 11 to 28,000 worldwide during his tenure. Starbucks says Schultz will be coming back on a volunteer basis for $1 in compensation.
Schultz also previously served as an interim CEO from 2008 to 22017, before being replaced by Johnson.
Under Johnson's leadership, Starbucks has weathered the effects of the last few years relatively well. While the beginning of the pandemic caused sales to plunge, sales recovered by spring of 2021, according to the company.
However, Starbucks is now facing a growing problem: unionization. Already, at least six locations have voted to join Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Another 130 locations have submitted petitions for a vote with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Speaking of the NLRB, Starbucks is facing a formal complaint from the agency alleging that the company retaliated against employees involved in union campaigning.
Schultz also has a history of voicing anti-union sentiments. In November of last year, he wrote an open letter to Starbucks employees just a few days before a union vote voicing his concerns over the movement.
"No partner has ever needed to have a representative seek to obtain things we all have as partners at Starbucks," Schultz wrote. "I am saddened and concerned to hear anyone thinks that is needed now."
Union barista Jay Brisack told NPR that she expects Schultz to continue to speak out against unionizing in his resumed position as CEO.
Brisack says Schultz seems to view employees unionizing as "almost an insult to him personally... which we've made clear from day one - this isn't a criticism. It's actually a way for us to grow with the company and challenge the status quo."
Still, business historians familiar with Schultz's track record say he makes sense as Johnson's replacement.
"Howard has an uncanny and I think unusually strong ability to understand the zeitgeist of a particular moment - socially, politically, psychically, economically," Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn told NPR. "It's in his blood, and it's personal for him."
On the other hand, some insiders say the return to Schultz as interim CEO is a bad sign for Starbucks.
"It's curious that they were not able to find a successor within a year," assistant professor of management at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, Timothy Hubbard, told ABC. "For a company the size and stature of Starbucks not to have a solid succession plan is surprising."
