Starbucks Offers CEO Brian Niccol a Corporate Jet for Daily 1600 km Commute

Brian Niccol, the new CEO of Starbucks, was being provided the facility of a corporate jet by the company. Actually, the distance between Brian's home and office is 1600 km. Starbucks is providing this facility to its CEO to cover this distance daily. And this has been mentioned in his offer letter.

The company will bear the travelling expenses of the new CEO Brian Niccol

Brian Niccol's home is in Newport, California and Starbucks' headquarters is in Seattle, Washington. The air distance between these two cities is about 1600 km. In such a situation, the company is providing the facility of a corporate jet to cover such a long distance in less time. The company will bear the entire cost of this facility.

The company said that when Brian Niccol does not have to go anywhere for work, then he will have to come to the office. According to the company's hybrid policy, if Brian Niccol is not traveling for office work, then he will have to come to the office at least three days a week.

Let us tell you that Brian has not joined the office yet after taking over as CEO. He will take over the responsibility of CEO starting next month.

Brian Nicol's success story and his achievements

50-year-old Nicol will be given a basic salary of $1.6 million every year, in addition, he can also get a cash bonus of $3.6 million to $7.2 million based on his performance. He will also be eligible to receive annual equity of up to $23 million.

This is not the first time Nicol will travel such a long distance to reach the office. In 2018, when he was the CEO of Chipotle, he successfully achieved a similar facility through negotiations.

Chipotle was headquartered in Colorado, which was as far as a 15-minute drive from Nicol's last workplace. But the Mexican fast food chain moved its headquarters from Denver to California three months after he was appointed CEO.

"Brian's main office and most of his time will be spent at our Seattle support center or in our stores, roastery, roasting facilities, and offices around the world meeting with partners and customers. His schedule will more than likely be in accordance with the hybrid work guidelines and workplace expectations we set for all partners," a company spokesperson told CNBC.

Such relaxed terms of employment are common for high-ranking executives who have immense bargaining power compared to the average employee. Hilary Super of singer Rihanna's lingerie brand Fenty x Savage was given a similar exemption when Victoria's Secret made her its new CEO.

She works from the company's New York City-based office rather than the company's headquarters near Columbus, Ohio. But not all CEOs agree. Amazon's Andy Jassy and JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon are making strong efforts to reintroduce the work-from-office policy. The reason behind this unusual facility Nicole got at Starbucks is the falling sales of the coffee giant.

In Starbucks' two biggest markets, the US and China, sales have declined this year under the tenure of its current CEO Laxman Narasimhan. Niccol is a star candidate for the top job as he has a strong track record of turning around troubled companies. When he was CEO of Chipotle, its stock reportedly soared 773%.

Former CEO of Starbucks

Before Brian Nicolo, the former CEO of Starbucks was Indian-origin Laxman Narasimhan. It is believed that Narasimhan was removed from the post due to the poor performance of the company. Laxman Narasimhan took over as Starbucks CEO only last year.