Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz is the former Chairman and CEO of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2017, as well as its executive chairman from 2017 to 2018. In January 2019 Schultz announced that he would explore a 2020 presidential bid as an independent candidate.

Schultz has an estimated net worth of $2.9 billion.

In 2018, following the arrest of two young African-American men at a Starbucks location in Philadelphia for allegedly trespassing, the company announced it would host a nationwide anti-bias training in collaboration with the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization. Tamika Mallory, a prominent activist and organizer of the 2017 Women's March, criticized the decision, accusing the ADL of "attacking black and brown people," further remarking in a tweet that “The ADL sends US police to Israel to learn their military practices. This is deeply troubling. Let’s not even talk abt [sic] their attacks against .@blacklivesmatter.” Starbucks was subsequently reported by Politico to have dropped the ADL from its anti-bias training, a decision that critics called "giving in to bigotry." A Starbucks spokesperson disputed that the change was in response to political pressure, saying it was "architecting a multi-phase approach to addressing bias."

On September 6, 2019, Schultz announced he would end his presidential campaign.