Howard Schultz will leave his role as executive chairman of Starbucks, effective June 26, he said in a statement Monday.
Schultz joined the Seattle-based company in 1982 and is credited with transforming it into an international brand with more than 28,000 locations. The announcement of his departure promptly sparked speculation that Schultz, who has openly criticized the Trump administration at times, is considering a 2020 presidential bid.
"I’ll be thinking about a range of options for myself, from philanthropy to public service, but I’m a long way from knowing what the future holds," Schultz said in the memo.
Two days after President Donald Trump issued an executive order last year barring people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. and halting refugee admissions, Schultz announced the company’s plan to hire 10,000 refugees over five years in 75 countries.
He also criticized the Republican tax plan before it was passed, saying that cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent would be "a mistake."
Schultz has not confirmed the rumors of a possible presidential bid, but he told The New York Times, "One of the things I want to do in my next chapter is to figure out if there is a role I can play in giving back."
“I’m not exactly sure what that means yet,” he said.
Schultz’s announcement comes after an episode in which two black men in Philadelphia were arrested while waiting inside one of the stores. The incident received national attention and prompted the coffee chain to shut down stores around the country last week for racial bias training.
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