I believe it was 1993, probably right after the Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) IPO. At the time, I worked in downtown Vancouver B.C. and one day a tourist from Toronto asked me to take a picture of her in front of a Starbucks. This picture, she said after thanking me, will make all her friends back east really jealous. I thought she was nuts.

Vancouver had Starbucks stores as early as 1987, but the hype really started in the early 90s. Personally, I never liked Starbucks coffee. The strong roasted flavor wasn't to my taste, not to mention I felt Starbucks promoted a stuck-up atmosphere to allow it to charge outrageous prices for a cup of coffee I didn't even want. Seems I was in the minority, and Starbucks went on to become a true success story. People liked the coffee and the upscale atmosphere.

Starbucks grew fast, opening more and more locations, until the growth affected the business. From an upscale atmosphere where baristas prepared espressos and other specialty coffees, machines were brought in and no doubt the coffee lost some of its taste, not to mention value in the eye of the consumer. A corporate atmosphere replaced the intimate coffee-shop one, especially with the introduction of sandwiches and breakfast. Locations were cannibalizing each others' profits, and lately, to pour salt on the loyal customers wounds who stuck with the company and paid $3+ for coffee, it started experimenting with $1 coffees -- Star ... buck?

With the announcement that Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) chairman and founder Howard Schultz is re-assuming the role of chief executive officer, it gets real interesting. Why?

Founders know the vision and the dream better than anyone; after all, it was their idea. The landscape is littered with founders returning to the CEO role. Larry Ellison has done so with Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), Michael Dell has come back to Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), and perhaps the most successful, Steve Jobs of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). The founder of an enterprise typically has the passion and the vision to where the enterprise should be. The problem with founders is that they normally are not great managers.

Steve Jobs of Apple had to actually get fired from Apple, found Pixar, develop it and eventually sell it to Disney (NYSE: DIS) before he learned the necessary lessons to bring Apple back. His record of accomplishment will be the subject of MBA course studies, and maybe even psychology books!

With Dell, the jury is out, both on him and the company. I don't like Dell, the company, and could not understand Wall Street's enthusiasm in 2007. Dell's business is characterized by depressing margins -- never a good sign -- and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) controlling both margins and the market share. Dell may never come back, at least not the way it is structured now.

Ellison at Oracle has acquired growth through depressed, but smart acquisitions, to build the applications business around its core database business.

And Howard Schultz at Starbucks?

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is recently up $1.72 to $20.10 in pre-open trading.

Howard Schultz, current chairman and formerly CEO of SBUX from 1987 to 2000, has returned as CEO. SBUX is expected to report EPS on January 30.

Goldman Sachs says: "We expect shares to react favorably but recognize enthusiasm could be tempered by a lack of tangible details and a vague timeline for change."

SBUX over all option implied volatility of 48 is above its 26-week average of 34 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) shares have left a taste in the mouth of shareholders almost as bitter as some of its brews as investors fretted about looming competition with McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) for the caffeinated consumer. Finally, the coffee chain, whose shares have plunged 48% over the past year, has woken up and smelled the over-priced Java.

The Seattle-based company ousted Chief Executive Jim Donald and replaced him with Chairman Howard Schultz, really the company's heart and soul.

In a letter released by the company, Schultz uses business school buzzwords such as "customer-facing" "customer-focused" and my favorite "re-igniting our emotional attachment with our customers" to discuss the mess in which Starbucks has found itself.

I first heard the news that Starbucks legend Howard Schultz would once again become CEO of the company via Twitter, and the tidings are accompanied by a generous measure of skepticism: Rick Turoczy asks, "I wonder if this means I'll still get crap coffee 90% of the time?" Baristas and buzz-mongers on Starbucks Gossip seem giddy ("Uncle Howie to the rescue!!!"), although even in the land of the faithful there is some suspicion, calling the decision "smoke and mirrors" and calling exiting CEO Jim Donald a "scapegoat." I call it a classic move for a company whose stock is tumbling: bring back whatever charisma we can yank from the back of the closet.

As Chairman, Howard Schultz was certainly still involved with company and its strategy. But the stock had been plunging throughout 2007 -- and has only tumbled further in 2008 with a downgrade from Bear Stearns. As I wrote in that post, the company's coffee quality was a predictor of its stock price, tumbling from its peak under Schultz previous reign. At one point, the baristas were pulling shots in high-quality, old-fashioned manual machines that coffee connoisseurs agree make far-superior espresso to that made in the newer, idiot-proof automatic models. Drip coffee was routinely thrown away if it was burnt. Now? I have to sweeten my lattes to disguise the taste of inferiority.

Bringing back an old chief executive -- and making a scapegoat (whether expressly in the press release, or just between the lines as is the usual way) of the Jimmy-come-lately CEO -- is a well-worn trick for a once-popular company whose stock is spinning every downward. It only rarely works, and Schultz will have to do a lot more than close stores to bring me back. To get me? You'll have to not only liven up the management team, but also your core product. I want good coffee back.

Investors, other than me, seem as pleased as the baristas -- they have given the stock a nearly-9% boost from its close at $18.38, up $1.65 to $20.03 as of 8 p.m. EST.

Major news from struggling coffee seller Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) this afternoon: CEO Jim Donald is being replaced by Chairman and visionary Howard Schultz, who will lead a major restructuring of the company.

The company said it will close underperforming US stores and slow its pace of expansion. Shares of Starbucks are up more than 8% after-hours, as investors apparently believe the company's problems can be fixed by a strong and highly-respected leader. Donald's resignation and Schulz's decision to return signal that the company's management is aware of its problems and determined to right the ship.

In a PR announcing the shake-up, Schultz said that "I am enthusiastic about returning to the role of chief executive officer for the long term and excited to lead Starbucks and its dedicated partners (employees) to even greater heights of achievement on a global basis. We must address the challenges we face and we know what has to be done. Put simply, we are recommitting ourselves to what has made Starbucks and the Starbucks Experience so unique: ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality coffee in the world; the relentless focus on the customer; the trust we have built with our people, and the entrepreneurial risk-taking, innovation and creativity that are the hallmarks of our success."

Whether these initiatives will be enough to combat the company's problems and a big push by McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) into Starbucks' territory remains to be seen. But for now, investors are lovin' it.

Recently 24/7 Wall St. ran a list of CEOs who may need to go back to business school. The performance of their companies has been so poor that they need a period of re-education, some tutoring in the basics.

The 24/7 list included the heads of AMD (NYSE: AMD), Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX), McClatchy (NYSE: MNI), Level 3 (NASDAQ: LVLT), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). None of them have done shareholders any favors even if stock price is the only measurement.

But, it is time to add a few more names to the list.

Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX): These shares are now off to $22.49, near a 52-week low. The shares have a period high of $37.14. James Donald has the CEO job at Starbucks, but the founder Howard Schultz is still around. Wall Street could certainly argue that the company has made a lot of mistakes starting with overbuilding stores in the US. Another is that the new menus in the stores seem to be have been decided by random. If the company cannot improve same-store sales soon, the stock will go lower. This seems basic, but SBUX has not given shareholders any plan for addressing it.

Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI): It is hard to have blown the lead that Blockbuster had in movie distribution. But it did. CEO James Keyes does not seem to have any logical vision about how to solve the company's problem, which is that digital distribution has passed it by. He argues that customers will go to kiosks at Blockbuster stores to download movies. Instead of doing it at home on the internet? Or getting the DVD in the mail? Not much of a plan.

Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD): The name on the CEO's door at Sears is Aylwin Lewis. But Eddie Lampert is the chief. The marriage of K-Mart and Sears has been a disaster. Same-store sales at both companies run below the industry average. It would be very hard to argue that the merchandising programs at the retail outlets is compelling enough to bring in new customers. Lampert exhibited poor judgment in sending out a letter that was picked up by the press. His defense of the company was that it had reduced debt and bought back shares. That will help a lot when his stores are empty.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

One of my favorite places – where I feed my frozen yogurt habit – is Pinkberry. It seems that whenever I go there, the lines are fairly long.

The company has now raised a cool $27.5 million from Maveron LLC.

Other than having a great product, Pinkberry has a simple menu. So, I can see why the chain has gained traction in fast-moving places like New York and Los Angeles.

Oh, and something else: the cofounder of Maveron is Howard Schultz, who is the chairman of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX). No doubt, he'll bring some wisdom to the table (for example, there are plans to introduce a stock option program). Yet, so far, Pinkberry seems to be doing well using the Starbucks playbook.

What's more, if you want to check out other recent venture fundings, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

As if Howard Schultz, founder and chairman of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) doesn't have enough to worry about, the chairman may have to answer to Sir Paul McCartney! It seems that "Sir Paul" has recently fired a few roadies for having the audacity to eat a few hamburgers! That's right, a few hamburgers. Did these guys drop and break some valuable equipment? No. Did these guys hook up the amplifiers incorrectly? No. Did these guys fail to set up the "Sir's" sound system poorly? No. They ate meat!

It seems that Sir Paul is not quite the tolerant sole that he appears to portray to the world. McCartney is an avid vegetarian and an activist for the mission. Great, ah, Sir Paul it's "Live and Let Live," not "Live and Let Die." McCartney has a brilliant new CD out that is available at Starbucks' 11,000 store unit system. As I wrote last week, the initial sales since its June 5 release have been fabulous. The 13-song CD has all new McCartney material and is a testament to Paul's talent -- and, by the way, yesterday, June 18th was Sir Paul's 65th birthday.

So here we have this ex-Beatle having turned 65 years of age. Don't you think Sir Paul would be a little more tolerant of other people's personal choices? After all, hamburgers are almost as popular in the United Kingdom as they are in the United States.

Well now, if Sir Paul cannot work with anyone that dares place any sort of meat to his or her lips, the big question is: Does Howard Schultz of Starbucks eat red meat? If he does, what will Sir Paul do? Will he immediately terminate his relationship with Starbucks? Will he try to convert Mr. Schultz and any other red-meat eater executive of Starbucks to the ways of this "tolerant vegetarian"? Let's see, Starbucks has about 11,000 stores and if each one sells just 100 copies of McCartney CD's in just the first month at $15.95 each, and McCartney's cut is ... I think you get the picture.

Sir Paul, what say you? How about bringing back those roadies and sing 'em your beautiful song " Let It Be"...

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research and a former Paul McCartney fan.

As previously covered on BloggingStocks by Georges Yared here, Starbucks chairman and founder Howard Schultz recently wrote an internal email to company executives regarding several issues. The most important issue is whether the Starbucks experience (think high quality, comfortable stores, fresh coffee) is declining and becoming commoditized as Starbucks continues to grow as a company. (You can read Schultz's memo in entirety here.)

Schultz covered many points related to how the company's brand and image has been hurt by decisions which "were probably right at the time." However, many of these decisions, in sum, have a much more damaging effect than any of these decisions alone.

In the memo the chairman got specific and discussed the implementation of the automatic espresso machine. Although these machines "solved a major problem in terms of speed of service and efficiency," the management did not realize these machines would eliminate the "romance and theater" of the previously used machines.

Another specific example Schultz provided was the addition of the "flavor lock" bag. This bag certainly has many benefits, mainly its ability to preserve the freshness of coffees that are shipped to nearly every city domestically and many cities internationally. However, this decision didn't address the long term ramifications for the brand and it has come back to hurt the overall image of Starbucks because, according to Schultz, the cost of this change was "the loss of aroma . . . the loss of our people scooping fresh coffee from the bins and grinding it fresh in front of the customer."

In addition, Schultz seems to regret the way in which store designs have evolved over the last several years. While he acknowledges Starbucks has "had to streamline store design to gain efficiencies of scale and to make sure we had the ROI on sales to investment ratios that would satisfy the financial side of our business," he believes the company might have sold out to the analysts and investors because Starbucks stores no longer bear the "the warm feeling of a neighborhood store."

Realizing these mistakes, Schultz believes it's time to "get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks experience."

Clearly Schultz has several regrets in the way in which he and the rest of management has led Starbucks over the last several years and he takes full blame for the decisions of the company ("I take full responsibility myself . . .")

What do you think? Has the Starbucks brand been diminished with the decisions made solely on the practicality of a new concept? Comment!

On Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX): Cramer said "I was wrong that it was going to $40. It's Going to $50. You can still buy it."

He said don't throw a good CEO under the bus for one bad month, and stick with companies that that can still expand in new countries like China. Cramer had Howard Schultz, CEO of SBUX, on his show. He said that Starbuck's goal is 40,000 and 20,000 of those outside of North America. They also reviewed the joint iTunes offering with Apple.

Starbucks closed up 7.59%, or $2.73, at $38.69 in regular trading on strong store numbers, but now it is up another 0.8% at $39.01 in after-hours trading.

Starbucks (SBUX) Chairman Howard Schultz, majority owner of The Basketball Club of Seattle, announced at a Tuesday night press conference in Seattle that his investment group is selling its basketball franchises: the NBA Seattle Supersonics, and the WNBA Seattle Storm.

Schultz said the reason for the sale was his group's inability to secure a solid economic future for the clubs working with Seattle and Washington state officials. Since Schultz feels his group cannot accomplish their goal of securing pro basketball's future in the city, they feel "new blood" might break the logjam.

Schultz has had a rocky and contentious tenure with the Sonics, but is certainly not the first entrepreneur to achieve great success in one area, only to become quite vexed and frustrated after purchasing a pro sports team.

Last week, between June 23 and 29th Starbucks [SBUX] Corporation Chairman, Howard Schultz, exercised more that 1 million share options at $4.13 a share for a gain of $34 million, (avg price $36.42 a share) . This should help out the SBUX founder and former CEO -- who has said (according to this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article), that the Seattle Sonics basketball franchise (35-47), of which Shultz heads the owners' consortium, has lost more than $60 million in five years.

Schultz still has more than 15.7 million shares of Starbucks stock, and needed to make this week's move in advance of a Sept. 30th expiration date. 

Back in 2004 Howard Shultz told Fast Company:

"We know we need to win back our customers' loyalty every day. Our success is based on their continued trust in our people and our environment over long periods of time."

Though Starbucks [SBUX] was among the first companies to introduce these - now ubiquitous -- loyalty cards (I have two bookstore cards, two different office supply cards, and two different grocery cards in my wallet right now) seeking to patent a type of loyalty cards last year wasn't the answer. So how is Starbucks [SBUX] doing with customer loyalty today, in June 2006?

One way to find out might be to attend [a function] where Caroline Platt, Category Manager, Loyalty, Starbucks Coffee Company will speak on the topic of "The Starbucks Approach to Customer Appreciation."

The summit's website says Platt will speak about the Starbucks loyalty card, and how  the company uses the program to "identify, reward and 'surprise and delight' their best customers." 

Update 04July 06: According to a organization spokesperson, the summit Ms. Platt will speak at is a private event, and I have complied with the spokesperson's request to remove a link to the event that was formerly part of this post.