Business

Howard Schultz

Grew up in public housing in Brooklyn; later bought the company he had worked for.

Born: 1953 · Brooklyn, New York, US
Roots: Jewish American
Family: Poverty; Canarsie public-housing projects; truck-driver father.
Education: Northern Michigan University (football scholarship; first in his family)
Started with: $1.65M raised; Pitched 242 investors to fund Il Giornale; 217 declined.
Affiliations & societies: None documented.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1961 · age 7
Father's injury
His father breaks an ankle on the job and is dismissed without insurance or savings.
1975 · age 21
First college graduate in the family
Football scholarship at Northern Michigan; then a Xerox sales job.
1982 · age 29
Joins Starbucks
Then a small Seattle coffee-bean roaster; he runs marketing.
1983 · age 30
Milan trade trip
Proposes an Italian-style café model; the owners decline.
1986 · age 33
Founds Il Giornale$1.65M
Leaves Starbucks; raises funding after 242 investor pitches and 217 rejections.
1987 · age 34
Buys Starbucks$3.8M
Acquires the brand and six stores from his former employers.
1992 · age 39
IPO
165 stores at listing.
2018 · age 65
~30,000 stores worldwide
At his departure as executive chairman.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.