Business

Starbucks names departing Reckitt Benckiser boss as new chief executive

Laxman Narasimhan to take reins of coffee chain from interim leader Howard Schultz

Coffee giant Starbucks said departing Reckitt Benckiser boss Laxman Narasimhan will join Starbucks on October 1st. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
Alexandra White
Fri Sep 2 2022 - 16:35

Starbucks has named the outgoing head of Reckitt Benckiser as its next chief executive, handing Laxman Narasimhan the task of executing a “reinvention” strategy designed by Howard Schultz since he returned in April to take charge of the coffee chain for the third time.

The India-born, US-educated executive will join as “incoming CEO” on October 1st but will spend six months working with Mr Schultz before the man who built a Seattle coffee bean supplier into a global brand steps back from his interim chief executive role to a non-executive position in April.

Starbucks’s appointment of the 55-year-old outsider came hours after Reckitt, the UK consumer goods group behind Durex condoms and Dettol and Lysol cleaning products, surprised investors with the news that Mr Narasimhan was leaving at the end of September for an opportunity that would let him move from London to the United States.

After three years running Reckitt, his turnaround plan “seems to be working”, Bernstein analysts said, “but it’s still too early to take the credit for a job well done”. Reckitt shares fell more than 5 per cent on the news of his departure.

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Starbucks hailed Mr Narasimhan’s nearly 30 years of experience leading consumer brands, noting the one-time McKinsey partner’s previous roles at PepsiCo as the snacks and beverages group’s chief commercial officer and head of its Latin America, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa operations.

Starbucks has offered Mr Narasimhan a package worth more than $28 million (€27.9 million). He is entitled to a base salary of $1.3 million, annual cash bonuses worth up to $2.6 million and annual equity awards with a target value of $13.6 million. In addition, Starbucks is paying a $1.6 million signing bonus in cash and $9.25 million in equity to compensate him for incentives he is giving up by leaving Reckitt. — Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022

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