Starbucks Weekly Recap: Store Closures, $300M Charge, Union Boycott, Japan Stake Sale
SBUX sits 22% above its 52-week low of $77.99.
Summary
Starbucks is closing ~250 North America stores and taking a $300M restructuring charge as part of its Back to Starbucks plan, while facing a boycott by over 12,000 union baristas and ongoing contract talks. The company is also reportedly weighing a sale of a majority stake in its Japan business, valued at about $3 billion, and has invested over $500M in staffing and scheduling initiatives. A new Global Capability Centre in Chennai will hire about 800 tech staff starting Q1 2027. The board approved additional Back to Starbucks measures on Sept 22, 2026. These moves follow the blowout Q3 results and raised guidance from late July, but the union boycott and Japan stake sale introduce new uncertainties.
At the time of this announcement, SBUX was trading at $94.99 on NASDAQ in the Trade & Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $108.1B. The 52-week trading range was $77.99 to $110.51. This news item was assessed with neutral market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Wiseek News.