Longtime Starbucks leader Howard Schultz steps down from the coffee chain’s board

NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime Starbucks leader Howard Schultz is stepping down from the company’s board of directors. Schultz is credited for transforming the Seattle-based business into the coffee giant it’s known as today. Starbucks said Wednesday his departure from the board is part of a planned transition. After purchasing Starbucks in 1987, Schultz headed the company as CEO until 2000 and again between 2008 and 2017. He later came out of retirement to return as interim CEO while the company searched for a new chief executive last year — but bid farewell to that title after Laxman Narasimhan officially took the reins in March.