MADRID, 14 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The American coffee chain Starbucks has announced the departure of its CEO for several decades, Howard Schultz, from the company's Board of Directors, who will be joined as of October 1 by Wei Zhang, former president of Alibaba Pictures and current member of the Board of Directors of the fashion brand Ralph Lauren.

Schultz, considered the founder of the modern Starbucks and president emeritus of the chain, has left his position on the Board of Directors "as part of a planned transition" and after leaving the position of CEO on March 20, nine days before his appearance before a panel of the United States Senate to testify in relation to the alleged obstacles that the multinational had put in place for the unionization of employees.

Since joining the company in 1982, Schultz, who just turned 70, piloted the transformation of Starbucks from a small coffee bean business to a giant coffee chain with more than 36,000 stores in 86 markets around the world. world and whose shares, which debuted on the stock market on June 26, 1992, have multiplied their price by 360 since then, to $96.93 per share at yesterday's close.

Along with Schultz's departure, Starbucks has also announced the signing of Wei Zhang as a member of the Board of Directors effective October 1.

Zhang, who joined Ralph Lauren's Board of Directors last November, worked at the Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba between 2008 and 2022, where he held various senior positions.

From 2015 until last year, Zhang served as president of Alibaba Pictures, a subsidiary of the Chinese group dedicated to film production.

Before his time at Alibaba, Wei Zhang worked at News Corp China, CNBC China, Bain