Starbucks Lays Off 350 At SODO Headquarters
Starbucks laid off 350 corporate employees Tuesday, the Seattle Times reports. The layoffs were expected as part of a reorganization to push sales growth. The company announced earlier this fall that it was reviewing all of its corporate teams.
The layoffs are all at Starbuck's headquarters in Seattle's SODO where 5,000 employees work. No store layoffs were announced.
The employees were told that the job cuts were the result of positions being eliminated or reprioritized, or as a result of work shifting within the company.
Starbuck’s stock price spiked Tuesday after the layoffs were announced, but ended the day down 50 cents at $67.41. On average, most stock indexes ended down Tuesday and continued the downward trend into Wednesday.
Starbucks reported that fourth-quarter sales increased at global comparable stores by 3%, which was driven by a 4% increase in the average ticket. It also reported that net revenue of $6.3B is up 11% over the prior year.
