Howard Schultz acquired Starbucks in 1987 and expanded it into a global coffee chain.
Starbucks had been founded in Seattle in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker. Schultz joined the company in 1982 after being impressed by its coffee culture. A trip to Italy convinced him that espresso bars could become social gathering places in the United States.
Schultz left Starbucks in 1985 and founded the coffee-bar company Il Giornale. In 1987, he used that business to purchase Starbucks and then merged the operations under the Starbucks name. His strategy emphasized café atmosphere, branded consistency, and employee benefits.
A frequent mistake is saying Schultz founded Starbucks from scratch. He did not create the original Seattle coffee-bean retailer, but he acquired it and was the principal force behind its large-scale expansion.