Starbucks held its initial public offering in 1992.
The company went public on June 26, 1992, shortly before its major period of international and domestic expansion. Its stock began trading after Starbucks had grown beyond its original Seattle base but was still far smaller than the global chain it would become.
The IPO helped provide capital for opening additional stores and developing the company’s retail operations. Starbucks had been founded in 1971 and had been acquired by Howard Schultz in 1987, so the public offering came roughly two decades after the original store opened.
The year 1992 is sometimes confused with 1987, the year Schultz acquired the company, or 2000, when Schultz stepped down as chief executive. Those are important corporate milestones, but neither was the IPO year.