Financing

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol's total compensation was $31M last year

The coffee shop giant’s chief executive, lured from Chipotle to turn the company around, received nearly $20 million in stock awards in addition to the use of an aircraft and housing expenses.
Brian Niccol
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol in an arena packed with baristas last year. | Photo courtesy of Starbucks.

Brian Niccol’s first full fiscal year as chief executive of Starbucks was a lucrative one.

Niccol, who took over as CEO of the coffee shop giant in 2024, was given a compensation package of $31 million during the company’s last fiscal year, according to a federal securities filing this week. 

The bulk of that package, nearly $20 million, was in the form of stock awards, which are common among publicly traded companies that want their chief executives aligned with the needs of shareholders. 

Niccol’s compensation also included a $5 million bonus, part of a $10 million incentive Starbucks used to lure him from Chipotle. Niccol also received $2 million in incentive compensation.

His salary, at $1.6 million, accounts for only 5% of his total compensation last year.

The value of some of the other compensation Niccol received last year exceeded that salary. 

Starbucks listed security services, worth about $1.1 million, among his pay package. Use of the company aircraft was worth about $1 million. Niccol also received about $371,536 worth of temporary housing expenses, according to the filing. 

The compensation package will likely be one of the richest in the restaurant industry. Outside of stock-heavy incentive packages given to new CEOs like Niccol or executives at newly-public companies, no industry chief executive has topped the $30 million mark since the pandemic.

Niccol was brought to Starbucks to lift the company out of a difficult sales slump. The company has overhauled marketing and in-store service, started remodeling locations and restructured the management team in the months since then. 

The Seattle-based company on Wednesday reported same-store sales of 4% last quarter, including 3% traffic, its best performance in two years.  

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