Howard Schultz once apologized to Seattle. Sort of. The former Starbucks CEO confessed he made his “biggest mistake” in 2006 when he sold the SuperSonics to a non-Seattle businessman out of Oklahoma City. Although the new owners made half-hearted promises to keep the basketball team in Seattle, they realized their original intent and moved the team to Oklahoma two years later.
Writing in “From the Ground Up,” the book he authored in 2019, Schultz conceded, “I created a wound I cannot heal and for which I will always be deeply sorry.” He added that in retrospect he wishes he’d “held on to the team until someone local wanted to buy it.”
After talking about what he called “the biggest regret of my professional life,” Schultz insisted that he continued to value “the spirit of Seattle, this magnificent city and its pioneering spirit.” He explained he’d fallen in love with the city in 1981 when strolling through the Pike Place Market and visiting “a small coffee roaster called Starbucks” and came here to realize his dreams.” He claimed that he had helped others build a better life heading the “first company in America to give part-time employees health-care coverage and stock ownership, as well as pioneering a program allowing employees to get a college degree, tuition free.”
His self-serving apology about the loss of the city’s basketball team was issued during his presidential bid, running as a “centrist independent.” He argued that his aim was to remove Trump (then serving his first term) from office and “helping to fix our broken two-party system.” But Schultz’s presidential bid didn’t fare well and he eventually dropped out. Nor did his apology to the city work out. Unforgiving cynics said his mea culpa was undertaken simply because Schultz recognized selling a beloved sports franchise remained a sore topic in Seattle.
In that running-for-president book, Schultz tried to patch things up, saying a lot of good things about Seattle and the city’s “pioneering spirit” and innovative ideas. However, despite his tribute to the city and his belated regret about selling the team, he now is singing a completely different song. In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal May 11, he contended Seattle has changed. He claimed that, after once nurturing businesses like Starbucks, Amazon, Costco, and Microsoft, the city has “turned hostile to business.”
As reported in March, Schultz has purchased a $44 million penthouse in Miami and is leaving Seattle. By moving to Florida, he’s joining other monied entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google.
Not one to depart with grace, Schultz aired a litany of complaints about Seattle including chronic homelessness, persistent budget deficits, declining public safety, falling foot traffic and downtown vacancies.
His vitriol came after the Washington State Legislature passed 9.9 percent levy on any income over $1 million, the so-called “millionaire’s tax.” Adding to his dystopian view, Schultz targeted Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson for her “socialist rhetoric” when she spoke during a November rally of Starbucks workers, saying she wasn’t buying Starbucks and “you shouldn’t either.” He also singled out Wilson’s demeanor at a Seattle University event where she rated as “overblown” concerns over millionaires leaving Washington and waved “bye” to companies wanting to depart.
Schultz’s qualms about the city’s business climate comes at a time when Starbucks has announced a new office in Nashville, pledging a $100 million investment in Tennessee. It’s projected the Nashville office will grow up to 2,000 workers over five years or more than half as large as the approximately 3,000 workers at Starbucks headquarters in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood.
But Schultz denied that his relocation to Miami was linked to Starbucks’ opening the Nashville office or to Washington’s taxes. He said the Florida move was a matter of “family choices” and his “stage of life.” Although no longer Starbucks CEO and having stepped down from the board of directors, Schultz still has the title of “Starbucks Chairman Emeritus” and remains a significant individual shareholder.
In response to Schultz’s claims about a “hostile climate,” Wilson’s office has responded with a conciliatory press statement affirming that Starbucks is “part of Seattle culture and identity and the mayor wants the company and other large employers to continue their success in the city.”
The release added that the mayor’s office “has regular communication with the executive team at Starbucks on shared priorities including homelessness, public safety and affordability.” It quoted Wilson saying, “Seattle is a special place because of our history, our culture, our workforce and shared understanding that companies and workers can succeed together.”
Nevertheless, Schultz deplored the state’s reliance on sales tax, calling it “a broken tax system” and saying the state focuses too much on taxation to solve its financial problems. Instead he advocates simplified regulations, reformed tax systems and investments in workforce development. He didn’t say how he proposes governments can operate without a funding source involving some form of taxation.
Some years ago, Schultz publicly acknowledged he has had a “complicated relationship” with Seattle. And that is the frankest and most revealing thing Schultz has ever said about his relationship with the city where he spent decades building the home-grown coffee company into a global empire.
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Moderate democrat, no Starbucks shares in my portfolio.
But Schultz has a good point.
Seattle has gone to the dogs.
Change is inevitable but not always good.
Homeless bums, drugs for sale, lead to crime, never ending taxes, government by “non-profits” who have captured political leadership to guarantee continued funding, and now a Socialist Mayor….Oh yes, public schools:(
Nothing personal but leaving Seattle at this time is a very logical move.
Hey Brother, maybe you should follow Schultz. For the monied class, there is no limit to the greed. Always demand more and went called upon to pay their share to the community, you get the remarks, the likes of Schultz.
You can say what you want about Wilson as most on the right do when tripping over themselves but speaks truth to power so name calling won’t hurt her.
Seattle is with her and if you aren’t maybe you should follow the whinner who spent more on lawyers than on paying for the employees who made his wealth for him.
What’s a “bum” ?
Even though most people probably think that Schultz started Starbuck’s, he purchased it from three local entrepreneurs a few decades ago.
The movie “The Franchise” which is based on Ray Kroc and his purchase of McDonald’s and him growing the brand, has amazing parallels to Schultz and Starbuck’s
“The Founder”, 2016.
Nevermind the cranky billionaire looking for a little more airtime on his way out of the state. I liken his whining to a guy that loudly complains about his ex-wife to his buddies, even though he cheated on her in the first place.
@Jim Luce, Seattle has its challenges just like every other city, but we’ve got many leafy, walkable neighborhoods, excellent libraries, expansive parks, gorgeous natural surroundings and a citizenry that cares to do the right thing. I’m willing stay here and face those challenges, which is more than can be said for Schultz.
I chuckle when I think of Florida receiving “the gift” of all these high maintenance billionaires. Enjoy!
Great article, Jean.
All
Remind our fine feathered future Tennessee residents that their governor is required by law to sign a proclamation honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest. Each yeay. And–a state holiday to boot!
Ah yes–THAT Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general, slave trader, and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
You bought into this, fine future Tennesseeans. Best luck there.
Howard Schultz isn’t wrong about Seattle. And all the apologists covering up our problems by highlighting our remaining assets are a bigger problem.
Exactly!
I agree with you. Thanks.
Well said!
My first introduction to Howard Schultz was when he tried to appropriate public park property for the driveway to his mansion. Don’t let the door hit you, etc…….
Shultz is a tool, but don’t look down your nose at Nashville. That would be a mistake.
Ned
Jean Godden has written an excellent article about Howard Schultz time in Seattle. What needs expanding upon his his lack of commitment to the Seattle Community. Socially, he avoided community charities, accused his Washington Park neighbors of anti semitism when he wanted to build a driveway on public property and remained aloof of to his Starbucks employees and neighbors.
Further, when selling the Sonic’s to Clay Bennet he knew full well his intentions but pretended otherwise. Apologies rang hollow and still do today.
Moving to the inter coastal in Miami with fellow ex Brooklynites should be celebrated by Seattleites.
His lack of personal involvement in Seattle institutions was a mystery in his early years but became an indication that he came to Seattle to make money but was uninterested in the strum and drag of community affairs in his adopted city.
Fortunately, he can no longer damage Starbucks as Chairman Emiratis, which he created. Adam Silver and Samantha Holloway will undo the loss of the Sonics in 2028 when the Sonics return to Climate Pledge Arena if all goes well.
I say good riddance to Howard, and congratulations to the new leadership at Starbucks! Time moves on some times slowly. Enjoy your return to the East Coast!! We won’t miss you!!
AI response: The strongest evidence suggests your criticism is partly grounded in real controversies, but it is written in a way that overstates some claims and understates others. Schultz was indeed widely criticized in Seattle for the Viretta Park driveway dispute, for his response to neighbors’ objections, and for the Sonics sale to Clay Bennett, which many Seattle fans view as deeply misleading in hindsight.
What the record shows
On the driveway issue, reporting says Schultz and his wife widened and improved a path that crossed park property, and when neighbors sued, he said they were hostile and that he and his family had received antisemitic threats; the neighbors’ attorney disputed that characterization. That makes it fair to say he invoked antisemitism in a neighborhood land dispute, but not fair to state as settled fact that the accusation was false or merely tactical, because the public record shows a conflict over motives and harassment claims rather than a proven fabrication.
On the Sonics, Schultz sold the team to Clay Bennett’s group in 2006, later saying he thought an outsider might help negotiate an arena deal, while critics argue he knew Bennett’s true intentions and was complicit in the franchise’s move to Oklahoma City. The article also notes Schultz’s later apology and that many fans still regarded it as too late or insincere.
Charities and employees
The claim that Schultz “avoided community charities” is too broad to state confidently. The Schultz Family Foundation publicly says it was founded in 1996 and focuses on economic mobility, youth opportunity, and national service, and other sources note major philanthropic commitments including veteran job training and related programs. So the better criticism is not that he did no charity, but that his philanthropy and brand image did not prevent serious local resentment about how he handled civic and labor relationships.
The “aloof” critique is more subjective, but it is consistent with multiple hostile accounts of his labor and civic style. The Politico profile describes a “long, unhappy trail of civic and community disengagement” and quotes critics who saw him as defensive, self-protective, and not honest; it also details labor disputes in which former workers felt dismissed or managed aggressively. That does not prove aloofness as fact, but it does show the perception was widespread and persistent.
Michael;’
Sounds like your detail supports my assertions. Sad story as he is a brilliant individual. May he be more involved in the Miami Community! Ned
Well, they do call Florida “God’s Waiting Room”. I hope he won’t have to wait too long. On the other hand, there’s the waiting room scene from Beetlejuice. Maybe he’ll get #9,998,383,750,001. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mddeohdTtFQ