Meet the US$27 billion CEO. He may actually be worth it

Can a single person radically affect a huge company’s fortunes? The market thinks incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol can. (Image: Rozette Rago for the Wall Street Journal)

The Wall Street Journal

Sun, 01 Sep 2024

By Ben CohenBefore last month, most people had never heard of Brian Niccol. If he had walked into a Starbucks, nobody would have recognised him. A barista might even have spelled his name wrong.But that was before Starbucks poached him from Chipotle in the sort of move that made investors spit out their coffee. The slumping company gave its new CEO everything he could have possibly wanted: a remote office in Southern California, a corporate plane for commuting to Seattle and a venti-sized pay package worth more than US$100 million (NZ$160m...

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