Starbucks taps Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as its new chief executive
CBSN
Starbucks named Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol as its new chief executive, a move that comes as the coffee chain contends with activist investors, stagnant sales and a sinking stock price.
Starbucks said on Tuesday that Niccol will start in his new role on September 9. The company's chief financial officer, Rachel Ruggeri, will serve as interim CEO until that date, while Mellody Hobson, the board chair, will become Starbucks' lead independent director.
The company said current CEO Laxman Narasimhan is stepping down immediately.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.