SBUX 10-K diff: FY 2023-10-01 → FY 2024-09-29
Paragraph-level diff of Risk Factors (Item 1A) and Management's Discussion & Analysis (Item 7).
Item 1A · Risk Factors
+176 paragraphs −115 paragraphs ~115 changed
FY 2023-10-01 (earlier)
Item 1A. Risk FactorsYou should carefully consider the risks described below in addition to the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations section, the Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk section and the consolidated financial statements and related notes. If any of the risks and uncertainties described in the cautionary factors described below actually occur or continue to occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations and the trading price of our common stock could be materially and adversely affected. The considerations and risks that follow are organized within relevant headings but may be relevant to other headings as well. Moreover, the risks below are not the only risks we face and additional risks not currently known to us or that we presently deem immaterial may emerge or become material at any time and may negatively impact our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations or the trading price of our common stock. It is not possible for management to predict all such risks, nor can it assess the impact of all such risks on Starbucks business or the extent to which any risk, or combination of risks, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.Risks Related to Brand Relevance and Brand Execution• Our success depends substantially on the value of our brands and failure to preserve their value could have a negative impact on our financial results.
We believe we have built an excellent reputation globally for the quality of our products, for delivery of a consistently positive consumer experience and for our global social and environmental impact programs. The Starbucks brand is recognized throughout most of the world, and we have received high ratings in global brand value studies. To be successful in the future, particularly outside of the U.S. where the Starbucks brand and our other brands are less well-known, we believe we must preserve, grow and leverage the value of our brands across all sales channels. Brand value is based in part on consumer perceptions on a variety of subjective qualities.
Erosion of trust in our brand value can be caused by isolated or recurring incidents originating both from us or our business partners, or from external events. Such incidents can potentially trigger boycotts of our stores or result in civil or criminal liability and can have a negative impact on our financial results. Incidents that can erode trust in our brand value include actual or perceived breaches of privacy or violations of domestic or international privacy laws, contaminated food, product recalls, store employees or other food handlers infected with communicable diseases, safety-related incidents or other potential incidents discussed in this risk factors section. The impact of such incidents may be exacerbated if they receive considerable publicity, including rapidly through social or digital media (including for malicious reasons) or result in litigation. Consumer demand for our products and our brand value could diminish significantly if we, our employees, licensees or other business partners fail to preserve the quality of our products, act or are perceived to act in an unethical, illegal, racially-biased, unequal, inequitable or socially irresponsible manner, including with respect to the sourcing, content or sale of our products, service and treatment of customers at Starbucks stores, treatment of employees, including our responses to unionization efforts, or the use of customer data for general or direct marketing or other purposes. Furthermore, if we are not effective in making sufficient progress toward our social and environmental program goals or in executing on our Reinvention Plan, consumer trust in our brand may suffer, and this perception could result in negative publicity or litigation. Additionally, if we fail to comply with laws and regulations, take controversial positions or actions or fail to deliver a consistently positive consumer experience in each of our markets, including by failing to invest in the right balance of wages and benefits to attract and retain employees that represent the brand well or to foster an inclusive and diverse environment, our brand value may be diminished.
The ongoing relevance of our brand may depend on making sufficient progress toward our social and environmental program goals as well as the successful execution of the Reinvention Plan, each of which requires company-wide coordination and alignment. We are working to manage risks and costs to us, our licensees and our supply chain of any effects of climate change as well as diminishing energy and water resources. These risks include any increased public focus, including by governmental11
Table of Contentsand nongovernmental organizations, on these and other environmental sustainability matters, including packaging and waste, animal health and welfare, deforestation and land use. These risks may also include any increased pressure to make commitments or set goals and take actions to meet them, which could expose us to market, operational and execution costs or risks. Some third parties may object to the scope or nature of our social and environmental program initiatives or goals, or any revisions to these initiatives or goals, which could give rise to negative responses by governmental actors (such as retaliatory legislative treatment) or consumers (such as boycotts or negative publicity campaigns) that could adversely affect our brand value.
• We may not be successful in our marketing, promotional and advertising plans and pricing strategies.
Our continued success depends in part on our ability to adjust our marketing, promotional and advertising plans and pricing strategy to respond quickly and effectively to shifting economic and competitive conditions as well as evolving customer preferences. We operate in a complex and costly marketing, promotional and advertising environment. Competition to attract and retain high-quality marketing partners and endorsers has increased. Our decisions to collaborate or to cease collaborating with certain endorsers or marketing partners in light of actions taken or statements made by them could seriously harm our brand image with consumers and, as a result, could have an adverse effect on our sales and financial condition. Our marketing, promotional and advertising programs may not be successful in reaching consumers in the way we intend. Our success depends in part on whether the allocation of our advertising, promotional and marketing resources across different channels, including digital, allows us to reach consumers effectively and efficiently, and in ways that are meaningful to them. If the advertising, promotional and marketing programs or our pricing strategies are not successful, or are not as successful as those of our competitors, our sales and market share could decrease.
Finally, consumers are focusing more on sustainability and the environmental impacts of operations, as well as the alignment of Starbucks actions with its stated mission, values and promises. An inability to meet consumer expectations with respect to these issues could adversely affect our financial results.
Risks Related to Our Business
• If our business partners and third-party providers do not satisfactorily fulfill their responsibilities and commitments, it could damage our brand and our financial results could suffer.
Our global business strategy, including our plans for new stores, branded products and other initiatives, relies significantly on a variety of business partners, including licensee and joint venture relationships, third-party manufacturers, distributors and retailers, particularly for our entire global Channel Development business. Licensees, retailers and foodservice operators are often authorized to use our logos and provide branded food, beverage and other products directly to customers. We believe our customers expect the same quality of service regardless of whether they visit a licensed or company-operated store, so we provide training and support to, and monitor the operations of, certain of these licensees and other business partners. However, the product quality and service they deliver may still be diminished by any number of factors beyond our control, including financial constraints or solvency, adherence to sanitation protocols and guidance, labor shortages and other factors. We do not have direct control over our business partners and may not have visibility into their practices.
We also source our food, beverage and other products from a wide variety of domestic and international business partners, and in certain cases such products are produced or sourced by our licensees directly. We do not monitor the quality of non-Starbucks products served by foodservice operators we have authorized to use our logos and provide branded products as part of their foodservice business. Additionally, inconsistent uses of our brand and other of our intellectual property assets, as well as failure to protect our intellectual property, can erode consumer trust and our brand value and have a material negative impact on our financial results.
• Incidents involving food or beverage-borne illnesses, tampering, adulteration, contamination or mislabeling, whether or not accurate, as well as adverse public or medical opinions about the health effects of consuming our products, could harm our business.
Instances or reports, whether true or not, of unclean water supply or food-safety issues, such as food or beverage-borne illnesses, tampering, adulteration, contamination or mislabeling, either during growing, manufacturing, packaging, storing or preparation, have in the past severely injured the reputations of companies in the food and beverage processing, grocery and quick-service restaurant sectors. Any report linking us to such instances could severely hurt our sales and could possibly lead to product liability claims, litigation (including class actions), temporary store closures, or other adverse consequences. Clean water is critical to the preparation of coffee, tea and other beverages, as well as ice for our cold beverages, and our ability to ensure adequate supplies of clean water and ice to our stores can be limited, particularly in some international locations. We are also continuing to incorporate more products in our food and beverage lineup that require freezing or refrigeration, which increases the risk of food safety related incidents if correct temperatures are not maintained due to mechanical malfunction or human error.12
Table of ContentsWe also face risk by relying on third-party food suppliers to provide and transport ingredients and finished products to our stores. The product quality and service they deliver may be diminished by any number of factors beyond our control and it may be difficult to detect contamination or other defects in these products. There is greater risk from those we do not monitor, or do not monitor as closely. Furthermore, stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are stricter health regulations and guidelines and increased public concern over food safety standards and controls. Potential food safety incidents, whether at our stores or involving our business partners, could lead to wide public exposure, which could materially harm our business.
In addition, instances of food or beverage-safety issues, even those involving solely the restaurants or stores of competitors or of suppliers or distributors (regardless of whether we use or have used those suppliers or distributors), could adversely affect our sales on a regional or global basis by resulting in negative publicity about us or the foodservice industry in general. A decrease in customer traffic as a result of food-safety concerns or negative publicity, or as a result of a temporary closure of any of our stores, product recalls, viral-contaminated food or beverage claims or other food or beverage-safety claims or litigation, could materially harm our business and results of operations.
• We may not be successful in implementing important strategic initiatives or effectively managing growth, which may have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.
There is no assurance that we will be able to implement important strategic initiatives in accordance with our expectations or that they will generate expected returns, which may result in an adverse impact on our business and financial results. These strategic initiatives, which include our Reinvention Plan, are designed to create growth, improve our results of operations and drive long-term shareholder value, and include:
• being an employer of choice and investing in employees to deliver a superior customer experience;• building our leadership position around coffee;• driving convenience, brand engagement and digital relationships through our mobile, loyalty, delivery and digital capabilities both domestically and internationally;• simplifying store administrative tasks to allow store partners to better engage with customers;• increasing the scale of the Starbucks store footprint with disciplined global expansion and introducing flexible and unique store formats, including the accelerated development of alternative store formats (such as Starbucks Pickup stores, Starbucks Now stores and curbside pickup);
• adjusting rapidly to changing customer preferences and behaviors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, changing economic conditions, increased global interest rates and inflation;• moving to a more licensed store model in certain markets and a more company-operated model in other markets;
• creating new occasions in stores across all dayparts with new product offerings, including our growing lunch food and beverage product lineup;• continuing the global growth of our Channel Development business through our supply, distribution and licensing agreements with Nestlé and other Channel Development business partners;• delivering continued growth in our cold beverage business;
• working to address the potential effects of climate change and the sustainability of our business; and
• reducing our operating costs, particularly general and administrative expenses.
In addition to other factors listed in this risk factors section, factors that may adversely affect the successful implementation of these initiatives, which could have a material adverse impact on our business and financial results, include the following:• imposition of additional taxes by jurisdictions, such as on certain types of beverages or based on number of employees;• construction cost increases associated with new store openings and remodeling of existing stores; delays in store openings for reasons beyond our control, such as potential shortages of materials and labor and delays in permits, or a lack of desirable real estate locations available for lease at reasonable rates, either of which could keep us from meeting annual store opening targets in the U.S. and internationally;• governmental regulations or other health guidelines concerning operations of stores, including due to public health emergencies;• not successfully scaling our supply chain infrastructure as our product offerings increase and as we continue to expand, including our emphasis on a broad range of high-quality food offerings;
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• not successfully adapting to customer or market factors affecting our supply chain as we work to address sustainability and climate change;
• the deterioration in our credit ratings, which could limit the availability of additional financing and increase the cost of obtaining financing to fund our initiatives; and• geopolitical instability and international conflicts.Effectively managing growth can be challenging, particularly as we continue to expand in international markets where we must balance the need for flexibility and a degree of autonomy for local management against the need for consistency with our goals, policies and standards. If we are not successful in implementing our strategic initiatives, or, in the event we undertake large acquisitions, integrations and divestitures, we may be required to evaluate whether certain assets, including goodwill and other intangibles, have become impaired. In the event we record an impairment charge, it could have a material impact on our financial results.
• Evolving consumer preferences and tastes may adversely affect our business.
Our continued success depends on our ability to attract and retain customers. Our financial results could be adversely affected by a shift in consumer spending away from outside-the-home food and beverages (such as a reduction in discretionary spending as a result of the resumption of student loan payments); lack of customer acceptance of new products (including due to price increases necessary to cover the costs of new products or higher input costs), brands (such as the global expansion of the Starbucks brand) and platforms (such as features of our mobile technology, changes in our loyalty rewards programs and our delivery services initiatives); or customers reducing their demand for our current offerings as new products are introduced. In addition, some of our products contain caffeine, dairy products, sugar and other compounds and allergens, the health effects of which are the subject of public and regulatory scrutiny, including the suggestion of linkages to a variety of adverse health effects. Particularly in the U.S., there is increasing consumer awareness of health risks, including obesity, as well as increased consumer litigation based on alleged adverse health impacts of consumption of various food and beverage products. An unfavorable report on the health effects of caffeine or other compounds present in our products, whether accurate or not, imposition of additional taxes on certain types of food and beverage components, or negative publicity or litigation arising from certain health risks could significantly reduce the demand for our beverages and food products and could materially harm our business and results of operations. Our financial results have been, and could continue to be, adversely affected by changes in macroeconomic conditions, including increases in real estate costs in certain domestic and international markets, inflationary pressures and changes in prevailing interest rates, disruptions to our supply chain, changes in governmental rules and approaches to taxation, and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Such changes could affect consumer behavior and their ability or willingness to spend discretionary income on our products . Furthermore, our financial results have been and could continue to be adversely affected by the persisting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the disruption of customer routines, changes to employer “work-from-home” policies and changes in consumer behavior and the ability or willingness to spend discretionary income on our products.Risks Related to Operating a Global Business• We are highly dependent on the financial performance of our North America operating segment.
Our financial performance is highly dependent on our North America operating segment, which comprised approximately 74% of consolidated total net revenues in fiscal year 2023. If the North America operating segment revenue trends slow or decline, especially in our U.S. market, our other segments may be unable to make up any significant shortfall and our business and financial results could be adversely affected. And because the North America segment is relatively mature and produces the large majority of our operating cash flows, such a slowdown or decline could result in reduced cash flows for funding the expansion of our international businesses and other initiatives and for returning cash to shareholders.
• We are increasingly dependent on the success of certain international markets in order to achieve our growth targets.
Our future growth increasingly depends on the growth and sustained profitability of certain international markets. Some or all of our international market business units (“MBUs”), which we generally define by the countries in which they operate, may not be successful in their operations or in achieving expected growth, which ultimately requires achieving consistent, stable net revenues and earnings. The performance of these international operations may be adversely affected by economic downturns in one or more of the countries in which our large MBUs operate. A decline in performance of one or more of our significant international MBUs could have a material adverse impact on our consolidated results.
The International segment is a significant profit center driving our global returns, along with our North America segment. In particular, our China MBU contributes meaningfully to both consolidated and International net revenues and operating income. China is expected to be our fastest growing market in terms of percentage growth, our second largest market overall and 100% company-owned. Due to the significance of our China market for our profit and growth, we are exposed to risks in China, including the risks mentioned elsewhere and the following:
14Table of Contents• the effects of current U.S.-China relations, including rounds of tariff increases and retaliations and increasing restrictive regulations, potential boycotts and increasing anti-Americanism;
• escalating U.S.-China tension and increasing political sensitivities in China;
• the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related governmental regulations and restrictions on our operations in China;
• entry of new competitors to the specialty coffee market in China;
• changes in economic conditions in China and potential negative effects to the growth of its middle class, wages, labor, inflation, discretionary spending and real estate and supply chain costs;
• ongoing government regulatory reform, including relating to public health, food safety, tariffs and tax, sustainability and responses to climate change, which result in regulatory uncertainty as well as potential significant increases in compliance costs;
• data-privacy and cybersecurity risks unique to the conduct of business in China; and
• food-safety related matters, including compliance with food-safety regulations and ability to ensure product quality and safety.
Additionally, some factors that will be critical to the success of our international operations overall are different than those affecting our U.S. stores and licensees. Tastes naturally vary by region, and consumers in some MBUs may not embrace our products to the same extent as consumers in the U.S. or other international markets. Occupancy costs and store operating expenses can be higher internationally than in the U.S. due to higher rents for prime store locations or costs of compliance with country-specific regulatory requirements. Because many of our international operations are in an early phase of development, operating expenses as a percentage of related revenues are often higher compared to more developed operations.
• We face risks as a global business that could adversely affect our financial performance.
We operate in 86 markets globally. Our international operations are also subject to additional inherent risks of conducting business abroad, such as:
• foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, or requirements to transact in specific currencies;
• changes or uncertainties in economic, legal, regulatory, social and political conditions in our markets, as well as negative effects on U.S. businesses due to increasing anti-American sentiment in certain markets;
• interpretation and application of laws and regulations, including tax, tariffs, labor, merchandise, anti-bribery and privacy laws and regulations;
• restrictive actions of foreign or U.S. governmental authorities affecting trade and foreign investment, especially during periods of heightened tension between the U.S. and such foreign governmental authorities, including protective measures such as export and customs duties and tariffs, government intervention favoring local competitors and restrictions on the level of foreign ownership;
• import or other business licensing requirements;• the enforceability of intellectual property and contract rights;• limitations on the repatriation of funds and foreign currency exchange restrictions due to current or new U.S. and international regulations;
• in developing economies, the growth rate in the portion of the population achieving sufficient levels of disposable income may not be as fast as we forecast;
• difficulty in staffing, developing and managing foreign operations and supply chain logistics, including ensuring the consistency of product quality and service, due to governmental actions affecting supply chain logistics, distance, language and cultural differences, as well as challenges in recruiting and retaining high-quality employees in local markets;
• local laws that make it more expensive and complex to negotiate with, retain or terminate employees;
• local regulations, health guidelines and safety protocols affecting our operations; and
• delays in store openings for reasons beyond our control, competition with locally relevant competitors or a lack of desirable real estate locations available for lease at reasonable rates, any of which could keep us from meeting annual store opening targets and, in turn, negatively impact net revenues, operating income and earnings per share.
15Table of ContentsMoreover, many of the foregoing risks are particularly acute in developing countries, which are important to our long-term growth prospects. An inability to manage effectively the risks associated with our international operations could adversely affect our business and financial results.
• Our reliance on key business partners may adversely affect our business and operations.
The growth of our business relies on the ability of our licensee partners to implement our growth platforms and product innovations as well as on the degree to which we are able to enter into, maintain, develop and negotiate appropriate terms and conditions of, and enforce, commercial and other agreements and the performance of our business partners under such agreements. Our international licensees may face capital constraints or other factors that may limit the speed at which they are able to expand and develop in a certain market. Our Channel Development business is heavily reliant on Nestlé, which has the right to sell and distribute our packaged goods and foodservice products to retailers and operators, with few exceptions. If Nestlé fails to perform its distribution and marketing commitments under our agreements and/or fails to support, protect and grow our brand in Channel Development, our Channel Development business could be adversely impacted for a period of time, present long-term challenges to our brand, limit our ability to grow our Channel Development business and have a material adverse impact on our business and financial results. Additionally, the growth of our Channel Development business is in part dependent on the level of discretionary support provided by our retail and licensed store businesses.
There are generally a relatively small number of licensee partners operating in specific markets. If they are not able to access sufficient funds or financing, or are otherwise unable or unwilling to successfully operate and grow their businesses, it could have a material adverse effect on our results in the applicable markets.Risks Related to Supply Chain• Increases in the cost of high-quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities or decreases in the availability of high-quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities could have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.
The availability and prices of coffee beans and other commodities are subject to significant volatility. We purchase, roast and sell high-quality whole bean arabica coffee beans and related coffee products. The high-quality arabica coffee of the quality we seek tends to trade on a negotiated basis at a premium above the “C” price. This premium depends upon the supply and demand at the time of purchase and the amount of the premium can vary significantly. Increases in the “C” coffee commodity price increase the price of high-quality arabica coffee and also impact our ability to enter into fixed-price purchase commitments. We frequently enter into supply contracts whereby the quality, quantity, delivery period and other negotiated terms are agreed upon, but the date, and therefore price, at which the base “C” coffee commodity price component will be fixed has not yet been established.
The supply and price of coffee we purchase can also be affected by multiple factors in the producing countries, such as weather, water supply quality and availability throughout the coffee production chain, natural disasters, crop disease and pests, general increase in farm inputs and costs of production, inventory levels, political and economic conditions and the actions of certain organizations and associations that have historically attempted to influence prices of green coffee through agreements establishing export quotas or by restricting coffee supplies. Climate change may further exacerbate many of these factors. Speculative trading in coffee commodities can also influence coffee prices. For example, extreme weather conditions such as drought or frost in Brazil have impacted coffee prices in the past, and in the likely event that such weather conditions were to reoccur in the future, they would have similar consequences on coffee price volatility. Because of the significance of coffee beans to our operations, combined with our ability to only partially mitigate future price risk through purchasing practices and hedging activities, increases in the cost of high-quality arabica coffee beans could have a material adverse impact on our profitability. In addition, if we are not able to purchase sufficient quantities of green coffee due to any of the above factors or due to a worldwide or regional shortage, we may not be able to fulfill the demand for our coffee, which could have a material adverse impact on our business operations and financial performance.
We also purchase significant amounts of dairy products, particularly fluid milk, and to a lesser degree, plant-based dairy-free alternative products, such as oat milk and almond milk, to support the needs of our company-operated retail stores. Additionally, other commodities, including tea and those related to food and beverage inputs, such as cocoa, produce, baking ingredients, meats, eggs and energy, as well as the processing of these inputs, are important to our operations. Increases in the cost of dairy products and other commodities, or lack of availability, whether due to supply shortages, delays or interruptions in processing, or otherwise, especially in international markets, could have a material adverse impact on our profitability. Similarly, increases in the cost of, or lack of availability, whether due to supply shortages, delays or interruptions in the processing of plant-based alternatives could have a material adverse impact on our profitability.
• Interruption of our supply chain could affect our ability to produce or deliver our products and could negatively impact our business and profitability.
16Table of ContentsAny material interruption in our supply chain, such as material interruption of roasted coffee supply due to the casualty loss of any of our roasting plants, interruptions in service by our third-party logistic service providers or common carriers that ship goods within our distribution channels, trade restrictions, such as increased tariffs or quotas, embargoes or customs restrictions, pandemics, social or labor unrest, labor shortages, natural disasters or political disputes and military conflicts that cause a material disruption in our supply chain could have a negative material impact on our business and our profitability. Additionally, our food, beverage and other products are sourced from a wide variety of domestic and international business partners in our supply chain operations, and in certain cases are produced or sourced by our licensees directly. We rely on these suppliers to provide high-quality products and to comply with applicable laws. Our ability to find qualified suppliers who meet our standards and supply products in a timely and efficient manner is a significant challenge as we increase our fresh and prepared food offerings, especially with respect to goods sourced from outside the U.S. and from countries or regions with diminished infrastructure, developing or failing economies or which are experiencing political instability or social unrest. For certain products, we may rely on one or very few suppliers. A supplier's failure to meet our standards, provide products in a timely and efficient manner or comply with applicable laws is beyond our control. These issues could have a material negative impact on our business and profitability.Risks Related to Macroeconomic Conditions• Our financial condition and results of operations are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, a number of macroeconomic and other factors, many of which are also largely outside our control.
Our operating results have been in the past and will continue to be subject to a number of macroeconomic and other factors, many of which are largely outside our control. Any one or more of the factors listed below or described elsewhere in this risk factors section could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and/or results of operations:• increases in real estate costs in certain domestic and international markets;• inflationary pressures and changes in prevailing interest rates;• disruptions to our supply chain;• changes in governmental rules and approaches to taxation;• fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;• adverse outcomes of litigation;• severe weather or other natural or man-made disasters affecting a large market or several closely located markets that may temporarily but significantly affect our retail business in such markets;
• changes in climate, including changes to the frequency or severity of extreme weather events, that impact the price and availability or cost of goods and services, energy and other materials throughout our supply chain; and
• especially in our largest markets, including the U.S. and China, labor discord or disruption, geopolitical events, war, terrorism (including incidents targeting us), political instability, acts of public violence, boycotts, increasing anti-American sentiment in certain markets, hostilities and social unrest and health pandemics that lead to avoidance of public places or restrictions on public gatherings such as in our stores.
Unfavorable economic conditions could also adversely affect our suppliers and licensees, who in turn could experience cash flow problems, more costly or unavailable financing, credit defaults and other financial hardships. This could lead to supplier or licensee insolvency, increase our bad debt expense, or cause us to increase the levels of unsecured credit that we provide to suppliers and licensees. Further, if any of our licensees becomes insolvent this could result in our exit from a particular market, and negatively impact our reputation. For example, one of our licensees is experiencing financial solvency issues, which may require the Company to expend capital resources to help fund their operating expenses in the short term.
• Economic conditions in the U.S. and international markets could adversely affect our business and financial results.
As a retailer that is dependent upon consumer discretionary spending, our results of operations are sensitive to changes in or uncertainty about macroeconomic conditions. A continued economic downturn or recession, or slowing or stalled recovery therefrom, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Our customers may have or in the future have less money for discretionary purchases and may stop or reduce their purchases of our products or switch to Starbucks or competitors’ lower-priced products as a result of various factors, including job losses, inflation, changes in prevailing interest rates, higher taxes, reduced access to credit, changes in federal economic policy, a global health pandemic, international trade disputes or geopolitical instability. We may also experience a reduction and increased volatility in demand for our products in connection with a global health pandemic. For example, in China, reductions and continuing volatility in that market may be caused by, among other things: store closures or modified operating hours and business model, reduced customer traffic due to illness, quarantine or government or self-imposed restrictions placed on our stores’ operations, impacts
17Table of Contentscaused by precautionary measures such as those related to face coverings and vaccinations and changes in consumer spending behaviors, including those caused by social distancing, a decrease in consumer confidence in general macroeconomic conditions and a decrease in consumer discretionary spending. Decreases in customer traffic and/or average value per transaction without a corresponding decrease in costs would put downward pressure on margins and would negatively impact our financial results. There is also a risk that if negative economic conditions or uncertainty persist for a long period of time or worsen, consumers may make long-lasting changes to their discretionary purchasing behavior, including less frequent discretionary purchases on a more permanent basis or enduring changes in behavior that precipitate a more general downturn in the restaurant industry. These and other macroeconomic factors could have an adverse effect on our sales, profitability or development plans, which could harm our results of operations and financial condition.
• Failure to meet market expectations for our financial performance and fluctuations in the stock market as a whole will likely adversely affect the market price and volatility of our stock.
Failure to meet market expectations going forward, particularly with respect to our operational and financial results, and expectations regarding the success of our Reinvention Plan and related guidance, environmental performance and shareholder returns, will likely result in a decline and/or increased volatility in the market price of our stock. In addition, price and volume fluctuations in the stock market as a whole may affect the market price of our stock in ways that may be unrelated to our financial performance.Risks Related to Human Capital• Changes in the availability of and the cost of labor could adversely affect our business.
Our business could be adversely impacted by increases in labor costs, including wages and benefits, which, in a retail business such as ours, are two of our most significant costs, both domestically and internationally, including those increases triggered by state and federal legislation and regulatory actions regarding wages, scheduling and benefits; increased healthcare and workers’ compensation insurance costs; and increased wages and costs of other benefits necessary to attract and retain high-quality employees with the right skill sets. The growth of our business can make it increasingly difficult to locate and hire sufficient numbers of employees, to maintain an effective system of internal controls for a globally dispersed enterprise and to train employees worldwide to deliver a consistently high-quality product and customer experience, which could materially harm our business and results of operations. Furthermore, we have experienced, and could continue to experience, a shortage of labor for store positions, and the increased availability of alternative telecommuting employment options by other employers could decrease the pool of available qualified talent for key functions. In addition, our wages and benefits programs may be insufficient to attract and retain the best talent.
Starting in September 2021, Starbucks partners at a number of company-operated stores sought union representation through elections conducted by the authorities. Unions have secured representation rights at a number of these stores, with potentially more to follow.
The law places limitations on unilateral actions taken with respect to employees who are represented by unions because in certain circumstances the law requires the employer to notify and to bargain with the union prior to making certain operational or other changes that may affect employee wages, hours or other terms and conditions of employment. These limitations could negatively affect our costs, change our employee culture, and decrease our flexibility. They also present the potential to disrupt our current operational model by affecting our ability to fully implement operational changes to enhance our efficiency and adapt to changing business needs.
Moreover, we have experienced job actions in some company-operated stores. Such job actions and work stoppages have the potential to negatively impact our operations, third-party providers upon whom we rely to deliver product, our sales, and our costs.
Additionally, our position with respect to unions and the unionization of partners could negatively impact how our brand is perceived and have adverse effects on our business, including on our financial results. These positions could also expose us to legal risk, causing us to incur costs to defend legal and regulatory actions, potential penalties and restrictions, and reputational harm.
• The loss of key personnel or difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified personnel or effectively managing changes in our workforce could adversely impact our business and financial results.
Much of our future success depends on the continued availability and service of key personnel and employees. The loss of any of our executive officers or other key senior management personnel could harm our business. Our success also depends substantially on the contributions and abilities of our retail store employees upon whom we rely to give customers a superior in-store experience and elevate our brand. Accordingly, our performance depends on our ability to recruit and retain high-quality management personnel and other employees to work in and manage our stores, both domestically and internationally. Our
18Table of Contentsability to do so has been and may continue to be impacted by challenges in the labor market, which has experienced and may continue to experience wage inflation, labor shortages, increased employee turnover, changes in availability of our workforce and a shift toward remote or hybrid work arrangements. Our ability to attract and retain corporate, retail and other personnel is also acutely impacted in certain international and domestic markets where the competition for a relatively small number of qualified employees is intense or in markets where large high-tech companies are able to offer more competitive salaries and benefits. Additionally, there is intense competition for qualified technology systems developers necessary to develop and implement new technologies for our growth initiatives, including increasing our digital relationships with customers. If we are unable to recruit, retain and motivate employees sufficiently to maintain our current business and support our projected growth, our business and financial performance may be adversely affected.Risks Related to Competition• We face intense competition in each of our channels and markets, which could lead to reduced profitability.
The specialty coffee market is intensely competitive, including with respect to product quality, innovation, service, convenience, such as delivery service and mobile ordering, and price, and we face significant and increasing competition in all of these areas in each of our channels and markets. Accordingly, we do not have leadership positions in all channels and markets. In the U.S., the ongoing focus by large competitors in the quick-service restaurant sector on selling high-quality specialty coffee beverages could lead to decreases in customer traffic to Starbucks® stores and/or average value per transaction adversely affecting our sales and results of operations. Similarly, continued competition from well-established competitors, or competition from large new entrants or well-funded smaller companies, in our domestic and international markets could hinder growth and adversely affect our sales and results of operations in those markets. Many small competitors also continue to open coffee specialty stores in many of our markets across the world, which in the aggregate may also lead to significant decreases of customer traffic to our stores in those markets. Increased competition globally in packaged coffee and tea and single-serve and ready-to-drink coffee beverage markets, including from new and large entrants to this market, could adversely affect the profitability of the Channel Development segment. In addition, not all of our competitors may seek to establish environmental or sustainability goals at a comparable level to ours, which could result in lower supply chain or operating costs for our competitors. We may incur increased costs associated with reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the use of plastic or imposing performance obligations on our suppliers that could increase financial obligations for us and our business partners and could affect our profitability. Additionally, if we are unable to respond to consumer demand for healthy beverages and foods, or our competitors respond more effectively, this could have a negative effect on our business. Furthermore, declines in general consumer demand for specialty coffee products for any reason, including due to consumer preference for other products, flattening demand for our products, changed customer daily routines or traffic to stores, or changed customer spending behaviors due to challenging economic conditions, could have a negative effect on our business.
Risks Related to Environmental, Social and Governance Matters
• Climate change may have an adverse impact on our business.
We recognize that there are inherent climate-related risks wherever business is conducted. For example, as we noted above, the supply and price of coffee we purchase can also be affected by multiple factors in the producing countries, such as weather and water supply quality and availability, which factors may be caused by or exacerbated by climate change. Climate change may also result in decreased availability, less favorable pricing, or other adverse consequences for non-coffee inputs in our products. In particular, climate change may affect the availability of water in the markets in which we operate and expect to operate and elsewhere in our supply chain, which could have adverse impacts on our business. We operate in 86 markets globally. Our properties and operations may be vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, which are predicted to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events and other natural cycles such as wildfires and droughts. Such events have the potential to disrupt our operations, cause store closures, disrupt the business of our third-party suppliers and impact our customers, all of which may cause us to suffer losses and additional costs to maintain or resume operations.
• Our business is subject to evolving corporate governance and public disclosure regulations and expectations, including with respect to environmental, social and governance matters, that could expose us to numerous risks.
We are subject to changing rules and regulations promulgated by a number of governmental and self-regulatory organizations, including the SEC, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. These rules and regulations continue to evolve in scope and complexity and many new requirements have been created in response to laws enacted by Congress, making compliance more difficult and uncertain. In addition, increasingly regulators, customers, investors, employees and other stakeholders are focusing on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters and related disclosures. These changing rules, regulations and stakeholder expectations have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and increased management time and attention spent complying with or
19Table of Contentsmeeting such regulations and expectations. For example, developing and acting on initiatives within the scope of ESG, and collecting, measuring and reporting ESG-related information and metrics can be costly, difficult and time consuming and is subject to evolving reporting standards, including the SEC’s proposed climate-related reporting requirements, and similar proposals by other international regulatory bodies. We may also communicate certain initiatives and goals, regarding environmental matters, diversity, responsible sourcing and social investments and other ESG-related matters, in our SEC filings or in other public disclosures. These initiatives and goals within the scope of ESG could be difficult and expensive to implement, the technologies needed to implement them may not be cost effective and may not advance at a sufficient pace, and we could be criticized for the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the disclosure. Further, statements about our ESG-related initiatives and goals, and progress toward those goals, may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future. If we are unable to meet our ESG-related goals or evolving stakeholder or industry expectations and standards, or if we are perceived to have not responded appropriately to the growing concern for ESG issues, customers and consumers may choose to stop purchasing our products or purchase products from another company or a competitor, and our reputation, business or financial condition may be adversely affected. If our ESG-related data, processes and reporting are incomplete or inaccurate, or if we fail to achieve progress with respect to our goals within the scope of ESG on a timely basis, or at all, our reputation, business, financial performance and growth could be adversely affected.
In addition, we could be criticized by ESG detractors for the scope or nature of our ESG initiatives or goals or for any revisions to these goals. We could also be subjected to negative responses by governmental actors (such as anti-ESG legislation or retaliatory legislative treatment) or consumers (such as boycotts or negative publicity campaigns) targeting Starbucks that could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial performance and growth.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
• We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property or adequately ensure that we are not infringing the intellectual property of others, which could harm the value of our brand and our business.
Our brand names, trademarks and related intellectual property rights are critical assets, and our success depends on our continued ability to use our existing trademarks and service marks in order to increase brand awareness and further develop our branded products in both domestic and international markets. We rely on a combination of trademarks, copyrights, service marks, trade secrets, patents and other intellectual property rights to protect our brand and branded products.
We have registered certain trademarks and have other trademark registrations pending in the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions. The trademarks that we currently use have not been registered in all of the countries outside of the U.S. in which we do business or may do business in the future and may never be registered in all of these countries. It may be costly and time consuming to protect our intellectual property, and the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property in the U.S. and foreign countries may not be adequate. In addition, the steps we have taken may not adequately ensure that we do not infringe the intellectual property of others, and third parties may claim infringement by us in the future. Any claim of infringement, whether or not it has merit, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation and harm our business. In addition, we cannot ensure that licensees will not take actions that adversely affect the value of our intellectual property.
Risks Related to Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
• Failure to maintain satisfactory compliance with certain privacy and data protections laws and regulations may subject us to substantial negative financial consequences, reputational harm and civil or criminal penalties.
Complex local, state, national, foreign and international laws and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal data. These privacy and data protection laws and regulations are quickly evolving, with new or modified laws and regulations proposed and implemented frequently and existing laws and regulations subject to new or different interpretations and enforcement. In addition, our legal and regulatory obligations in jurisdictions outside the U.S. are subject to unexpected changes, including the potential for regulatory or other governmental entities to enact new or additional laws or regulations, to issue rulings that invalidate prior laws or regulations or to increase penalties significantly. Complying with these laws and regulations can be costly and can impede the development and offering of new products and services.
For example, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation (which implements the GDPR into U.K. law), impose stringent data protection requirements and provide for significant penalties for noncompliance. In China, the Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”), has established personal information processing rules, data subject rights, and obligations for personal information processors, among other things. In addition to the PIPL, China’s Data Security Law, regulates data processing activities associated with personal and non-personal data. Noncompliance with these laws may result in significant civil and criminal penalties. Other newly enacted and proposed privacy and data protection laws in other jurisdictions served by Starbucks and its licensees may impose similar requirements, including
20Table of Contentsrestrictions on cross-border data transfers. Such laws may impact Starbucks business operations and increase the cost and expense of compliance.
In the United States, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) requires, among other things, covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers and allows such consumers new abilities such as the right to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA also provides for civil penalties for violations as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation. Further, the California Privacy Rights Act, which became effective in January 2023, significantly modified the CCPA and includes additional compliance obligations. Colorado, Connecticut and Virginia recently enacted similar data privacy legislation that has also gone into effect in 2023, and a new privacy law in Utah will go into effect at the end of 2023. In addition, a number of other states have passed or are considering additional privacy laws that are expected to take effect in the near future. These laws will require us to incur additional costs and expenses in our efforts to comply.
Privacy and data protection laws such as those referenced above may impact Starbucks operation and new business models, such as Starbucks Digital Solutions, which rely on Starbucks functioning as controller of customer personal information in licensed markets. As such, Starbucks may be primarily responsible for compliance with privacy and data protection laws in the markets served by participating licensees.
Our failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations or other obligations to which we may be subject relating to personal data, or to protect personal data from unauthorized access, use or other processing, could result in enforcement actions and regulatory investigations against us, claims for damages by customers and other affected individuals, fines and damage to our brand reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial performance and business. The amount and scope of insurance we maintain may not cover all types of claims that may arise.
• The unauthorized access, use, theft or destruction of customer or employee personal, financial or other data or of Starbucks proprietary or confidential information that is stored in our information systems or by third parties on our behalf could impact our reputation and brand and expose us to potential liability and loss of revenues.
Many of our information technology systems (whether cloud-based or hosted in proprietary servers), including those used for our point-of-sale, web and mobile platforms, online and mobile payment systems, delivery services and rewards programs and administrative functions, contain personal, financial or other information that is entrusted to us by our customers, business partners and employees. Many of our information technology systems also contain Starbucks proprietary and other confidential information related to our business, such as business plans and product development initiatives and designs, and confidential information about third parties, such as licensees and business partners. Similar to many other retail companies and because of the prominence of our brand, we have in the past experienced, and we expect to continue to experience, cyber-attacks, including phishing, and other attempts to breach, or gain unauthorized access to, our systems and databases. To date, these attacks have not had a material impact on our operations, but we cannot provide assurance that they will not have an impact in the future. Our third-party providers’ and business partners’ information technology systems and databases are likewise subject to such risks. The number and frequency of these attempts varies from year to year but could be exacerbated to some extent by an increase in our digital operations. In addition, we provide some customer and employee data, as well as Starbucks proprietary information and other confidential information important to our business, to third parties to conduct our business, including licensees and business partners. Individuals performing work for Starbucks and such third parties also may access some of this data, including on personally-owned digital devices. To the extent we, a third party or such an individual were to experience a breach of our or their information technology systems that results in the unauthorized access, theft, use, destruction or other compromises of customers’ or employees’ data or confidential information of the Company stored in or transmitted through such systems, including through cyber-attacks or other external or internal methods, it could result in a material loss of revenues from the potential adverse impact to our reputation and brand, a decrease in our ability to retain customers or attract new ones, the imposition of potentially significant costs (including loss of data or payment for recovery of data) and liabilities, loss of business, loss of business partners and licensees and the disruption to our supply chain, business and plans. Unauthorized access, theft, use, destruction or other compromises are becoming increasingly sophisticated and may occur through a variety of methods, including attacks using malicious code, vulnerabilities in software, hardware or other infrastructure (including systems used by our supply chain), system misconfigurations, phishing or social engineering. The rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies may intensify our cybersecurity risks. Our logging capabilities, or the logging capabilities of third parties, are not always complete or sufficiently granular, affecting our ability to fully understand the scope of security breaches.
Such security breaches also could result in a violation of applicable U.S. and international privacy, cyber and other laws or trigger data breach notification laws, including new disclosure rules promulgated by the SEC, and subject us to private consumer, business partner or licensee or securities litigation and governmental investigations and proceedings, any of which could result in our exposure to material civil or criminal liability. These risks also exist in acquired businesses, joint ventures or companies we invest in or partner with that use separate information systems or that have not yet been fully integrated into our information systems.
21Table of ContentsSignificant capital investments and other expenditures could also be required to investigate security incidents, remedy cybersecurity problems, recuperate lost data, prevent future compromises and adapt systems and practices to react to the changing threat environment. These include costs associated with notifying affected individuals and other agencies, additional security technologies, trainings, personnel, experts and credit monitoring services for those whose data has been breached. These costs, which could be material, could adversely impact our results of operations in the period in which they are incurred, including by interfering with the pursuit of other important business strategies and initiatives, and may not meaningfully limit the success of future attempts to breach our information technology systems.
Media or other reports of existing or perceived security vulnerabilities in our systems or those of our third-party business partners or service providers can also adversely impact our brand and reputation and materially impact our business. Additionally, the techniques and sophistication used to conduct cyber-attacks and compromise information technology systems, as well as the sources and targets of these attacks, change frequently and are often not recognized until such attacks are launched or have been in place for a period of time. The rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies amplifies these concerns. We continue to make significant investments in technology, third-party services and personnel to develop and implement systems and processes that are designed to anticipate cyber-attacks and to prevent or minimize breaches of our information technology systems or data loss, but these security measures cannot provide assurance that we will be successful in preventing such breaches or data loss.
• We rely heavily on information technology in our operations and growth initiatives, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of that technology could harm our ability to effectively operate and grow our business and could adversely affect our financial results.
We rely heavily on information technology systems across our operations for numerous purposes including for administrative functions, point-of-sale processing and payment in our stores and online, management of our supply chain, Starbucks Cards, online business, delivery services, mobile technology, including mobile payments and ordering apps, reloads and loyalty functionality and various other processes and transactions, including providing Starbucks Digital Solutions to participating licensees, and many of these systems are interdependent on one another for their functionality. Many of our non-store employees continue to work on a remote or hybrid basis, which has resulted in increased demand on our information technology infrastructure. Additionally, the success of several of our initiatives to drive growth, including our ability to increase digital relationships with our customers to drive incremental traffic and spend, is highly dependent on our technology systems. Furthermore, we continue to expand convenience-led formats, which depend heavily on our mobile ordering capabilities. We also rely on third-party providers and platforms for some of these information technology systems and support. Additionally, our systems hardware, software and services provided by third-party service providers are not fully redundant within a market or across our markets. Our contractual and operational safeguards may not be effective in preventing the failure of these systems or platforms to operate effectively and be available. Such failures may be caused by various factors, including power outages, climate change-related impacts, catastrophic events, physical theft, computer and network failures, inadequate or ineffective redundancy, problems with transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems or platforms, flaws in third-party software or services, errors or improper use by our employees or third-party service providers, or a breach in the security of these systems or platforms, including through cyber-attacks such as those that result in the blockage of our or our third-party business partners’ or service providers’ systems and platforms and those discussed in more detail in this risk factors section. If our incident response, disaster recovery and business continuity plans do not resolve these issues in an effective and timely manner, they could result in an interruption in our operations and could cause material negative impacts to our product availability and sales, the efficiency of our operations and our financial results. In addition, remediation of any problems with our systems and related customer support could result in significant, unplanned expenses.
Risks Related to Pandemics or Epidemics
• Future health epidemics or pandemics could adversely affect our business and financial results.
Health epidemics or pandemics have in the past and may in the future impact macroeconomic conditions, consumer behavior, labor availability and supply chain management, as well as local operations in impacted markets, all of which can adversely affect our business, financial results and outlook. Governmental responses to health epidemics or pandemics, including operational restrictions, can also affect the foregoing items and adversely affect our business and financial results. The duration and scope of a health epidemic or pandemic can be difficult to predict and depends on many factors, including the emergence of new variants and the availability, acceptance and effectiveness of preventative measures. A health epidemic or pandemic may also heighten other risks disclosed in these risk factors, including, but not limited to, those related to the availability and costs of labor and commodities, supply chain interruptions, consumer behavior, and consumer perceptions of our brand and industry.
Risks Related to Governmental and Regulatory Changes
22Table of Contents• Failure to comply with applicable laws and changing legal and regulatory requirements could harm our business and financial results .
Our policies and procedures are designed to comply with all applicable laws, accounting and reporting requirements, tax rules and other regulations and requirements, including those imposed by the SEC, Nasdaq and foreign countries, as well as applicable trade, labor, healthcare, food and beverage, sanitation, safety, environmental, labeling, anti-bribery and corruption and merchandise laws. Such laws and regulations are complex and often subject to differing interpretations, which can lead to unintentional or unknown instances of non-compliance. Changes in the enforcement priorities of regulators may also shift the impact of applicable regulations on the business and the costs necessary to ensure compliance therewith, including through an expansion in the nature, scope or complexity of matters on which we are required to report. Changes in applicable environmental laws and regulations, including increased or additional regulations and associated costs to limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, to discourage the use of plastic or to limit or impose additional costs on commercial water use, may result in increased compliance costs, capital expenditures, incremental investments and other financial obligations for us and our business partners, which could affect our profitability.
In addition, our business is subject to complex and rapidly evolving U.S. and international laws and regulations regarding data privacy and data protection, and companies are under increased regulatory scrutiny relating to these matters. The Federal Trade Commission and many state attorneys general are also interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards for the online collection, use, dissemination and security of data. The interpretation and application of existing laws and regulations regarding data privacy and data protection are in flux and authorities around the world are considering a number of additional legislative and regulatory proposals in this area. Current and future data privacy and data protection laws and regulations (including the GDPR and the CCPA, discussed in more detail in this risk factors section, and other applicable international and U.S. privacy laws), or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations, may limit our ability to collect and use data, require us to otherwise modify our data processing practices and policies or result in the possibility of fines, litigation or orders, which may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. The burdens imposed by these and other laws and regulations that may be enacted, or new interpretations of existing and future laws and regulations, may also require us to incur substantial costs in reaching compliance in a manner adverse to our business.
The complexity of the regulatory environment in which we operate and the related costs of compliance are both increasing due to additional or changing legal and regulatory requirements, our ongoing expansion into new markets and new channels and the fact that foreign laws occasionally conflict with domestic laws. In addition to potential damage to our reputation and brand, failure by us or our business partners to comply with the various applicable laws and regulations, as well as changes in laws and regulations or the manner in which they are interpreted or applied, may result in litigation, civil and criminal liability, damages, fines and penalties, increased cost of regulatory compliance and restatements of our financial statements and have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.
FY 2024-09-29 (later)
Item 1A. Risk FactorsYou should carefully consider the risks described below in addition to the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations section, the Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk section, and the consolidated financial statements and related notes. The risks described below are not the only risks facing the Company. Risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.
Summary of Risks Associated with Our Business
Our business is subject to various risks and uncertainties that you should consider before investing in the Company. These risks are described in more detail in this Item 1A. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:Risks Related to Brand Relevance and Brand Execution• Our success depends substantially on the value of our brands, and failure to preserve their value could have a negative impact on our financial results.
• We may not be successful in our marketing strategies, promotional and advertising plans, and pricing strategies.
Risks Related to Our Business
• We may not be successful in implementing important strategic initiatives or effectively managing growth, which may have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.
• Our investments to transform and enhance the customer experience, including through technology, may not generate the expected results.
• Evolving consumer preferences and tastes, as well as adverse public or medical opinions about the health effects of consuming our products, may adversely affect our business.
• If our business partners and third-party providers do not satisfactorily fulfill their responsibilities and commitments, it could damage our brand, and our financial results could suffer.
• Reported incidents involving food- or beverage-borne illnesses, tampering, adulteration, contamination, or mislabeling, whether or not accurate, could harm our business.
• If we are unable to meet our projections for new store openings or efficiently maintain the attractiveness of our existing stores, our operating results could suffer.
Risks Related to Operating a Global Business
• We are highly dependent on the financial performance of our North America operating segment.
• We are increasingly dependent on the success of certain international markets in order to achieve our growth targets.
• We face risks as a global business that could adversely affect our financial performance.
• Our reliance on key business partners may adversely affect our business and operations.11
Table of ContentsRisks Related to Supply Chain
• Increases in the cost of high-quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities or decreases in the availability of high-quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities could have an adverse impact on our business operations and financial results.
• Our supply chain may be unable to fully support current and future business needs.
• Interruption of our supply chain and our reliance on suppliers could affect our ability to produce or deliver our products and could negatively impact our business and profitability.
Risks Related to Macroeconomic Conditions
• Our financial condition and results of operations are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, a number of macroeconomic and other factors, many of which are largely outside our control.
• Economic conditions in the U.S. and international markets have adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, our business and financial results.
• Failure to meet our announced guidance or market expectations for our financial performance will likely adversely affect the market price and increase the volatility of our stock, and fluctuations in the stock market as a whole may also impact the market price and volatility of our stock.
Risks Related to Human Capital
• The loss of key personnel, difficulties with recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, or ineffectively managing changes in our workforce could adversely impact our business and financial results.
• Changes in the availability and cost of labor could adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Competition
• We face intense competition in each of our channels and markets, which could lead to reduced profitability.
Risks Related to Environmental, Social, and Governance Matters
• Climate change may have an adverse impact on our business.
• Our business is subject to evolving corporate governance and public disclosure regulations and expectations, including with respect to environmental, social, and governance matters, that could expose us to numerous risks.
• Certain activist shareholder actions have caused, and could continue to cause, us to incur expense, hinder execution of our business strategy, and adversely impact our stock price.
Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation
• Failure to comply with applicable laws and changing legal and regulatory requirements could harm our business and financial results.
• We have been, and could continue to be, party to litigation or other legal proceedings that could adversely affect our business, results, operations, and reputation.
Risks Related to Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
• Failure to maintain satisfactory compliance with certain privacy and data protection laws and regulations may result in substantial negative financial consequences, reputational harm, and civil or criminal penalties.
• The unauthorized access, use, theft, or destruction of customer or employee data (personal, financial, or other), or of Starbucks proprietary or confidential information that is stored in our information systems or by third parties on our behalf, could impact our reputation and brand and expose us to potential liability and loss of revenues.
• We rely heavily on information technology in our operations and growth initiatives, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption, or security failure of that technology could harm our ability to effectively operate and grow our business and could adversely affect our financial results.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
• Failure to adequately protect our intellectual property or ensure that we are not infringing on the intellectual property of others could harm the value of our brand and our business.12
Table of ContentsRisks Related to Brand Relevance and Brand Execution
Our success depends substantially on the value of our brands, and failure to preserve their value could have a negative impact on our financial results.
We believe we have built an excellent reputation globally for the quality of our products, for delivery of a consistently positive consumer experience, and for our global environmental and social impact programs. The Starbucks brand is recognized throughout most of the world, and we have received high ratings in global brand value studies. To be successful in the future, particularly outside of the U.S. where the Starbucks brand and our other brands are less well-known, we believe we must preserve, grow, and leverage the value of our brands across all sales channels. Brand value is based in part on consumer perceptions on a variety of subjective qualities.
Erosion of trust in our brand value can be caused by isolated or recurring incidents originating both from us or our business partners, or from external events. Such incidents can potentially trigger boycotts of our stores or result in civil or criminal liability, which can have a negative impact on our financial results. Incidents that can erode trust in our brand value include actual or perceived breaches of privacy or violations of domestic or international privacy laws, contaminated food, product recalls, store employees or other food handlers infected with communicable diseases, safety-related incidents, or other potential incidents discussed in this risk factors section. The impact of such incidents may be exacerbated if they receive considerable publicity, including rapidly through social or digital media (including for malicious reasons), or if they result in litigation. Negative postings or comments on social media or networking websites about Starbucks, even if inaccurate or malicious, have in the past, and could in the future, generate negative publicity about Starbucks across media channels that could damage the value of our brand. It may be difficult to address such negative publicity, including as a result of fictitious media content (such as content produced by generative artificial intelligence or bad actors) across media channels. Additionally, consumer demand for our products and our brand value could diminish significantly if we, our employees, licensees, or other business partners fail to preserve the quality of our products, act or are perceived to act in an unethical, illegal, racially-biased, unequal, inequitable, or socially irresponsible manner, including with respect to the sourcing, content, or sale of our products, service and treatment of customers at Starbucks stores, treatment of employees, including our responses to unionization efforts, or the use of customer data for general or direct marketing or other purposes. Allegations, even if untrue, that we are not respecting internationally recognized human rights, are failing to comply with applicable workplace and labor laws, or are aligned with positions on social or geopolitical issues could also negatively impact our brand value. Additionally, if we fail to comply with laws and regulations, take controversial positions or actions, fail to deliver a consistently positive consumer experience in each of our markets, including by failing to invest in the right balance of wages and benefits to attract and retain employees who represent the brand well, or fail to foster an inclusive and diverse environment, our brand value may be diminished. In addition, we cannot ensure that our store partners, licensees, or other business partners will not take actions that adversely affect the value and relevance of our brand.
Furthermore, if we are not effective in making sufficient progress toward our environmental and social program goals, consumer trust in our brand may suffer, and this perception could result in negative publicity or litigation. The ongoing relevance of our brand may depend on making sufficient progress toward our environmental and social program goals, each of which requires company-wide coordination and alignment. Increased public focus, including by governmental and nongovernmental organizations, on environmental sustainability matters, including climate change, diminishing energy and water resources, packaging and waste, deforestation, biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and land use, may result in increased pressure to set goals and take actions to meet them, which could expose us to market, operational, and execution costs or risks. Statements regarding our environmental and social program goals reflect our current plans and aspirations; our environmental and social program-related policies, practices, and goals are voluntary, challenging, and subject to change at our discretion. Some third parties may object to the scope or nature of our environmental and social program initiatives or goals, or any revisions to these initiatives or goals, which could give rise to negative responses by governmental actors (such as retaliatory legislative treatment), consumers (such as boycotts or negative publicity campaigns), or other third parties that could adversely affect our brand value.
We may not be successful in our marketing strategies, promotional and advertising plans, and pricing strategies.
Our continued success depends in part on our ability to adjust our marketing strategies, promotional and advertising plans, and pricing strategies to respond quickly and effectively to shifting economic and competitive conditions as well as evolving customer preferences. We operate in a complex and costly marketing, promotional, and advertising environment. Competition to attract and retain high-quality marketing partners and endorsers has increased. Our decisions to collaborate or to cease collaborating with certain endorsers or marketing partners in light of actions taken or statements made by them could seriously harm our brand image with consumers and, as a result, could have an adverse effect on our sales and financial condition. Our marketing, promotional, and advertising programs may not be successful in reaching consumers in the way we intend. Our success depends in part on whether the allocation of our advertising, promotional, and marketing resources across different channels, including digital, allows us to effectively and efficiently reach consumers in ways that are meaningful to them. Additionally, many factors, including operating costs, constraints, or changes, and our current and future competitors’ pricing
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and marketing strategies, could significantly affect our pricing strategies (including price reductions, promotions, discounts, coupons, or free goods), which may prevent us from competing effectively in certain geographies. For example, historically, in order to partially offset inflation and other increases in the costs of core operating resources, we have gradually increased menu prices. There can be no assurance that future cost increases, including as a result of inflation, can be offset by increased menu prices or that our current or future menu prices will be fully absorbed by our customers without any resulting change to their demand for our products. If the advertising, promotional, and marketing programs or our pricing strategies are not successful or are not as successful as those of our competitors, our sales and market share could decrease.
Finally, consumers are focusing more on sustainability and the environmental impacts of Starbucks operations, as well as the alignment of Starbucks actions with its stated mission, values, and promises. An inability to meet consumer expectations with respect to these issues could adversely affect our financial results.
Risks Related to Our Business
We may not be successful in implementing important strategic initiatives or effectively managing growth, which may have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.
We may not be able to implement important strategic initiatives in accordance with our expectations or that generate expected returns, which may result in an adverse impact on our business and financial results. These strategic initiatives, which include our Back to Starbucks plan, are designed to create growth, improve our results of operations, and drive long-term shareholder value, and include:
• being an employer of choice and investing in partners to deliver a superior customer experience;• building our leadership position around coffee;• driving convenience, brand engagement, and digital relationships through our mobile, loyalty, delivery, and digital capabilities both domestically and internationally;• simplifying store administrative tasks to allow store partners to better engage with customers;• increasing the scale of the Starbucks store footprint with disciplined global expansion and continuing to introduce flexible and unique store formats in certain markets;
• adjusting rapidly to changing customer preferences and behaviors as a result of changing economic conditions and increased global interest rates and inflation;• moving to a more licensed store model in certain markets and a more company-operated model in other markets;
• creating new occasions in stores across all dayparts with new product offerings, including our growing lunch food and beverage product lineup;• continuing the global growth of our Channel Development business through our supply, distribution, and licensing agreements with Nestlé and other Channel Development business partners;• delivering continued growth in our cold beverage business;
• working to address the potential effects of climate change and the sustainability of our business; and
• reducing our operating costs, particularly general and administrative expenses.
In addition to other factors listed in this risk factors section, factors that may adversely affect the successful implementation of these initiatives, which could have a material adverse impact on our business and financial results, include the following:• delays or cancellations of store openings for reasons beyond our control, such as potential shortages of materials and labor, delays in permits, or a lack of desirable real estate locations available for lease at reasonable rates, any of which could keep us from meeting annual store opening targets in the U.S. and internationally;
• not successfully scaling our supply chain infrastructure as we continue to expand;
• not successfully adapting to customer or market factors affecting our supply chain as we work to address sustainability goals and mitigate the impacts of climate change;
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• inability to timely innovate with new product offerings, or the potential that such offerings may not be well-received by consumers;
• delays or cancellations of remodels based on changes in macroeconomic conditions, changes in expected project benefits, or other factors;
• construction cost increases associated with new store openings and remodeling of existing stores;
• the challenges of company-wide coordination and alignment;
• inability to identify or act on opportunities to deliver anticipated cost savings;• imposition of additional taxes by jurisdictions, such as on certain types of beverages or based on number of employees;• governmental regulations or other health guidelines concerning operations of stores, including due to public health emergencies;• deterioration in our credit ratings, which could limit the availability of additional financing and increase the cost of obtaining financing to fund our initiatives; and• geopolitical instability and international conflicts.Effectively managing growth can be challenging, particularly as we continue to expand in international markets where we must balance the need for flexibility and a degree of autonomy for local management against the need for consistency with our goals, policies, and standards. If we are not successful in implementing our strategic initiatives, or, in the event we undertake large acquisitions, integrations, and divestitures, we may be required to evaluate whether certain assets, including goodwill and other intangibles, have become impaired. In the event we record an impairment charge, it could have a material impact on our financial results.
Our investments to transform and enhance the customer experience, including through technology, may not generate the expected results.
Our long-term business objectives depend on the successful execution of our strategies. We continue to build upon our investments in development, technology, digital engagement, and delivery in order to transform and enhance the customer experience. As part of these investments, we continue to focus on improving our service model and strengthening relationships with customers, in part through digital channels and loyalty initiatives, mobile order and payment systems, and enhancement of our technologies. We also continue to expand and refine our mobile ordering process. If these customer experience initiatives are not successfully executed or do not generate expected results, or if we do not fully realize the intended benefits of these significant investments, our financial results may suffer. It is also possible that the greater allocation of time and resources to these customer experience initiatives versus other organizational priorities could negatively impact other areas of our business, or that we will fail to achieve optimal allocation of resources, which could materially harm our business and results of operations.
Evolving consumer preferences and tastes, as well as adverse public or medical opinions about the health effects of consuming our products, may adversely affect our business.
Our continued success depends on our ability to attract and retain customers. Our financial results could be adversely affected by a shift in consumer spending away from outside-the-home food and beverages (such as a reduction in discretionary spending); lack of customer acceptance of new products (including due to price increases necessary to cover the costs of new products or higher input costs), brands (such as the global expansion of the Starbucks brand), and platforms (such as features of our mobile technology, changes in our loyalty rewards programs, and our delivery services initiatives); or customers reducing their demand for our current offerings as new products are introduced. In addition, some of our products contain caffeine, dairy products, sugar, and other compounds and allergens, the health effects of which are the subject of public and regulatory scrutiny, including the suggestion of linkages to a variety of adverse health effects. Particularly in the U.S., there is increasing consumer awareness of health risks, including obesity, as well as increased consumer litigation based on alleged adverse health impacts of consumption of various food and beverage products. An unfavorable report on the health effects of caffeine or other compounds present in our products, whether or not accurate, imposition of additional taxes on certain types of food and beverage components, or negative publicity or litigation arising from certain health risks could significantly reduce the demand for our beverages and food products and materially harm our business and results of operations. Changes in diet (whether due to changes in consumer behavior and eating habits, use of weight-loss drugs, or other factors) could also influence the demand for our offerings and materially harm our business and results of operations. Our financial results have been, and could continue to
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be, adversely affected by changes in macroeconomic conditions, including those discussed in more detail elsewhere in this risk factors section. Such changes have impacted, and could continue to impact, customer routines, employer “work-from-home” policies, and consumer behavior, including consumers’ ability or willingness to spend discretionary income on our products.
If our business partners and third-party providers do not satisfactorily fulfill their responsibilities and commitments, it could damage our brand, and our financial results could suffer.
Our global business strategy, including our plans for new stores, branded products, and other initiatives, relies significantly on a variety of business partners, including licensees, joint venture partners, third-party manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, particularly for our entire global Channel Development business. Licensees, retailers, and foodservice operators are often authorized to use our logos and provide branded food, beverage, and other products directly to customers. We believe our customers expect the same quality of service regardless of whether they visit a licensed or company-operated store, so we provide training and support to, and monitor the operations of, certain of these licensees and other business partners. However, the product quality and service they deliver may still be diminished by any number of factors beyond our control, including financial constraints or solvency issues, adherence to sanitation protocols and guidance, labor shortages, and other factors. We do not have direct control over our business partners and may not have visibility into their practices.
We also source our food, beverage, and other products from a wide variety of domestic and international business partners, and in certain cases, such products are produced or sourced by our licensees directly. We do not monitor the quality of non-Starbucks products served by foodservice operators who are authorized to use our logos and provide branded products as part of their foodservice businesses. Failures by our licensees or business providers to comply with the laws or regulations of their markets, or to otherwise meet the standards consumers associate with our brand, may negatively impact our business. Additionally, inconsistent use of our brand and other intellectual property assets, as well as the failure to protect our intellectual property, could erode consumer trust and diminish our brand value, which could result in a material negative impact on our financial results.
Reported incidents involving food- or beverage-borne illnesses, tampering, adulteration, contamination, or mislabeling, whether or not accurate, could harm our business.
Instances or reports, whether true or not, of unclean water supply or food-safety issues, such as food- or beverage-borne illnesses, tampering, adulteration, contamination, and/or mislabeling, either during growing, manufacturing, packaging, transporting, storing, or preparation, have in the past severely injured the reputations of companies in the food and beverage processing, grocery, and quick-service restaurant sectors. Any report linking us to such instances, even when false, unfounded, or inaccurate, could materially harm our sales and could lead to product liability claims, litigation (including class actions), temporary store closures, or other adverse consequences. Validated food-safety issues can also result in regulatory action and may lead to a recall of impacted products. Clean water is critical to the preparation of coffee, tea, and other beverages, as well as ice for our cold beverages, and our ability to ensure adequate supplies of clean water and ice to our stores can be limited, particularly in some international locations. We continue to incorporate more products in our food and beverage lineup that require time and temperature control, including freezing or refrigeration, which increases the risk of food-safety related incidents if correct temperatures are not maintained during manufacturing, storage, distribution to stores, and at stores, due to mechanical malfunction or human error.
We also face risk by relying on third-party food suppliers to manufacture finished products, and to provide and transport ingredients and finished products to our stores. The product quality and service they deliver may be diminished by any number of factors beyond our control. Potential food safety incidents, whether at our stores, with our products, or involving our business partners, could lead to wide public exposure, regulatory action, and potential litigation, which could materially harm our business.
A widespread Starbucks product recall could result in significant losses due to the costs of a recall, the destruction of product inventory, and lost sales due to the unavailability of product for a period of time, and could also subject us to product liability claims and negative publicity, all of which could materially harm our business. A decrease in customer traffic because of food-safety concerns or negative publicity, product recalls, viral-contaminated food or beverage claims, or other food or beverage-safety claims or litigation, or as a result of a temporary closure of any of our stores, could materially harm our business and results of operations. Additionally, instances of food or beverage-safety issues, even those solely involving the restaurants or stores of competitors or of suppliers or distributors (regardless of whether we use or have used those suppliers or distributors), could adversely affect our sales on a regional or global basis by resulting in negative publicity about us, even if no Starbucks suppliers or products are impacted, or the foodservice industry in general.
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If we are unable to meet our projections for new store openings or efficiently maintain the attractiveness of our existing stores, our operating results could suffer.
Our growth depends in part on our ability to open new stores and operate them profitably on the forecasted timeline. In recent years, the costs of opening new stores increased due in part to construction labor inflation and increased costs of materials and equipment. In addition, we incur substantial startup expenses each time we open a new store, and it takes time to ramp up the sales and profitability of a new store, during which ramp-up period costs may be higher as we train new partners and build up a customer base. If we are unable to build the customer base that we expect or fail to overcome the higher startup expenses associated with new stores, our new stores may not be as profitable as our existing stores. Our ability to open and profitably operate new stores is also subject to various risks, such as the identification and availability of desirable locations; the negotiation of acceptable lease terms; the need to obtain all required governmental permits (including zoning approvals) and comply with other regulatory requirements, including health and safety; the availability of capable contractors and subcontractors; increases in the cost and decreases in the availability of labor and building material; changes in weather, natural disasters, pandemics, or other acts of God that could delay construction and adversely affect guest traffic; our ability to hire and train qualified management and store partners; and general economic and business conditions. At each potential location, we compete with other foodservice and retail businesses for desirable development sites, construction contractors, management personnel, partners, and other resources. It is also possible that our new stores may negatively impact the profitability of existing stores nearby. If we are unable to successfully manage these risks, we could face increased costs and lower-than-anticipated sales and earnings in future periods, which could have a material negative effect on our operating results.
In addition, we continue to improve our existing stores through remodels, upgrades, and regular upkeep. If the costs associated with remodels, upgrades, or regular upkeep are higher than anticipated, stores are closed for remodeling for longer periods than planned, or remodeled stores do not perform as expected, we may not realize our projected return on investment, which could have a material negative effect on our operating results.Risks Related to Operating a Global BusinessWe are highly dependent on the financial performance of our North America operating segment.
Our financial performance is highly dependent on our North America operating segment, which comprised approximately 75% of consolidated total net revenues in fiscal year 2024. If the North America operating segment revenue trends slow or decline, especially in our U.S. market, our other segments may be unable to make up any significant shortfall, and our business and financial results could be adversely affected. Since the North America segment is relatively mature and produces the large majority of our operating cash flows, such a slowdown or decline could result in reduced cash flows for funding the expansion of our international businesses and other initiatives and for returning cash to our shareholders.
We are increasingly dependent on the success of certain international markets in order to achieve our growth targets.
Our future growth increasingly depends on the growth and sustained profitability of certain international markets. Some or all of our international market business units (“MBUs”), which we generally define by the markets in which they operate, may not be successful in their operations or in achieving expected growth, which ultimately requires achieving consistent, stable net revenues and earnings. The performance of these international operations may be adversely affected by economic downturns in one or more of the markets in which our large MBUs operate. A decline in performance of one or more of our significant international MBUs could have a material adverse impact on our consolidated results.
The International segment is an important profit center driving our global returns, along with our North America segment. In particular, our China MBU, as our second-largest market overall and 100% company-operated, contributes meaningfully to both consolidated and International net revenues and operating income. Due to the significance of our China MBU for our profit and growth, we are exposed to risks in China, including the risks mentioned elsewhere and the following:
• a highly competitive retail environment and the entry of new competitors to the specialty coffee market in China;
• changes in economic conditions in China and potential negative effects to the growth of its middle class, wages, labor, inflation, discretionary spending, and real estate and supply chain costs;
• the effects of U.S.-China relations, including escalating U.S.-China tension and increased anti-Americanism, potential tariff increases, retaliations, restrictive regulations, or boycotts, and increasing political sensitivities in China;
• ongoing government regulatory reform, including relating to public health, food safety, tariffs and taxes, sustainability, and responses to climate change, which result in regulatory uncertainty as well as potential significant increases in compliance costs;
• data privacy and cybersecurity risks unique to the conduct of business in China; and
17Table of Contents• food safety related matters, including compliance with food safety regulations and ability to ensure product quality and safety.
Additionally, some factors that will be critical to the success of our international operations overall are different than those affecting our U.S. stores and licensees. Tastes naturally vary by region, and consumers in some international MBUs may not embrace our products to the same extent as consumers in the U.S. or other international markets. Occupancy costs and store operating expenses can be higher internationally than in the U.S. due to higher rents for prime store locations or costs of compliance with market-specific regulatory requirements. Because many of our international operations are in an early phase of development, operating expenses as a percentage of related revenues are often higher compared to more developed operations.
We face risks as a global business that could adversely affect our financial performance.
We operate in 87 markets globally. We encounter differing cultural, regulatory, geopolitical, and economic environments within and among the markets in which we operate, and our ability to achieve our business objectives depends on our ability to successfully navigate these differing environments. Our ability to meet customer expectations is complicated by the risks inherent in our global operating environment, and our global success is partially dependent on our ability to leverage operating successes across multiple markets. Planned initiatives may not have appeal across multiple markets with our customers and could drive unanticipated changes in customer perceptions and market share.
Our international operations are also subject to additional inherent risks of conducting business abroad, such as:
• changes or uncertainties in economic, legal, regulatory, social, and political conditions in our markets, as well as negative effects on U.S. businesses due to increasing anti-American sentiment in certain markets;
• restrictive actions of foreign or U.S. governmental authorities affecting trade and foreign investment, especially during periods of heightened tension between the U.S. and such foreign governmental authorities, including protective measures such as export and customs duties and tariffs, government intervention favoring local competitors, and restrictions on the level of foreign ownership;
• delays in store openings for reasons beyond our control, competition with locally relevant competitors, or a lack of desirable real estate locations available for lease at reasonable rates, any of which could keep us from meeting annual store opening targets and, in turn, negatively impact net revenues, operating income, and earnings per share.
• difficulty in staffing, developing, and managing foreign operations and supply chain logistics, including ensuring the consistency of product quality and service, due to governmental actions affecting supply chain logistics, distance, language, and cultural differences, as well as challenges in recruiting and retaining high-quality employees in local markets;
• economic or trade sanctions affecting our ability to source products or conduct business in one or more of the markets in which we operate;
• in developing economies, the growth rate in the portion of the population achieving sufficient levels of disposable income may not meet our projections;
• interpretation and application of laws and regulations, including those relating to taxes, tariffs, labor, merchandise, anti-bribery, privacy, and environmental, social, and governance issues;
• local laws, policies, and conditions that make it more expensive and complex to negotiate with, retain, or terminate employees;
• labor strikes or work stoppages resulting from geopolitical instability or social unrest affecting one or more of the markets in which we operate;
• local regulations, health guidelines, and safety protocols affecting our operations;• the enforceability of intellectual property and contract rights;• foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations or requirements to transact in specific currencies;
• limitations on the repatriation of funds and foreign currency exchange restrictions due to current or new U.S. and international regulations; and
18Table of Contents• import or other business licensing requirements.
Moreover, many of the foregoing risks are particularly acute in developing markets, which are important to our long-term growth prospects. An inability to effectively manage the risks associated with our international operations could adversely affect our business and financial results.
Our reliance on key business partners may adversely affect our business and operations.
The growth of our business relies on the ability of our licensee partners to implement our growth platforms and product innovations. Further, the degree to which we are able to enter into, maintain, develop, negotiate, and enforce appropriate terms and conditions of commercial and other agreements, as well as the performance of our business partners under such agreements, are critical to our business. Our international licensees may face capital constraints or other factors, including legal constraints, that may limit the speed at which they are able to expand and develop in a certain market. Our Channel Development business is heavily reliant on Nestlé, which has the global right to sell and distribute our packaged goods and foodservice products to retailers and operators, with few exceptions. If Nestlé fails to perform its distribution and marketing commitments under our agreements and/or fails to support, protect, and grow our brand in Channel Development, our Channel Development business could be adversely impacted for a period of time, present long-term challenges to our brand, limit our ability to grow our Channel Development business, and have a material adverse impact on our business and financial results. Our retail licensed operations are concentrated in a relatively small number of large licensees. If they are not able to access sufficient capital or are otherwise unable or unwilling to successfully operate and grow their businesses, it could have a material adverse effect on our results in the applicable markets.Risks Related to Supply ChainIncreases in the cost of high-quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities or decreases in the availability of high-quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities could have an adverse impact on our business operations and financial results.
The availability and prices of coffee beans and other commodities are subject to significant volatility. We purchase, roast, and sell high-quality whole bean arabica coffee beans and related coffee products. The high-quality arabica coffee of the quality we seek tends to trade on a negotiated basis at a premium above the “C” price. This premium depends upon, among other factors, the supply and demand at the time of purchase, and the amount of the premium can vary significantly. Increases in the “C” coffee commodity price increase the price of high-quality arabica coffee and impact our ability to enter into fixed-price purchase commitments. We frequently enter supply contracts whereby the quality, quantity, delivery period, and other negotiated terms are agreed upon, but the date, and therefore price, at which the base “C” coffee commodity price component will be fixed has not yet been established.
The supply and price of coffee we purchase can also be affected by multiple factors in the producing countries, such as weather, water supply quality and availability throughout the coffee production chain, natural disasters, crop disease and pests, general increases in farm input costs and costs of production, inventory levels, political and economic conditions, and the actions of certain organizations and associations that have historically attempted to influence prices of green coffee through agreements establishing export quotas or by restricting coffee supplies. Climate change may further exacerbate many of these factors. For example, extreme weather conditions such as drought or frost in Brazil have impacted coffee prices in the past, and in the likely event that such weather conditions were to reoccur, become more frequent, and/or increase in severity in the future, they may have similar or worse consequences on coffee price volatility. Speculative trading in coffee commodities can also influence coffee prices. Because of the significance of coffee beans to our operations, combined with our ability to only partially mitigate future price risk through purchasing practices and hedging activities, increases in the cost of high-quality arabica coffee beans could have a material adverse impact on our profitability. In addition, if we are not able to purchase sufficient quantities of green coffee due to any of the above factors or due to a worldwide or regional shortage, we may not be able to fulfill the demand for our coffee, which could have a material adverse impact on our business operations and financial performance.
We also purchase significant amounts of dairy products, particularly fluid milk, and to a lesser degree, plant-based dairy-free alternative products, such as oat milk and almond milk, to support the needs of our company-operated retail stores. Additionally, other commodities, including tea and those related to food and beverage inputs, such as cocoa, produce, baking ingredients, meats, eggs, and energy, as well as non-food and beverage inputs, such as the components that comprise our packaging materials, are important to our operations, as is the processing of these inputs. Increases in the cost of dairy products and other commodities, or lack of availability, whether due to supply shortages, delays or interruptions in processing, or otherwise, especially in international markets, could have a material adverse impact on our profitability. Similarly, increases in the cost of, or lack of availability of, whether due to supply shortages, or delays or interruptions in the processing of, plant-based alternatives could have a material adverse impact on our profitability.
19Table of ContentsOur supply chain may be unable to fully support current and future business needs.
Even in the absence of acute disruptions or interruptions, our supply chain may be unable to fully meet current or future business needs. There can be no assurance that our suppliers will be able to accommodate our anticipated growth or continue to supply current quantities at preferential prices or at all. An inability of our suppliers to provide products in a timely or cost-effective manner could impair our growth and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. If we are unable to accurately forecast sales levels in each market or store and obtain sufficient ingredients or produce a sufficient supply to meet demand, we may incur higher expedited shipping costs and may temporarily run out of stock of certain products, which could negatively impact the enthusiasm of our customers and store partners. We have been, and may in the future be, unable to fully address consumers’ demand for our products, particularly in the case of new offerings for which demand is higher than projected. Conversely, if demand does not meet our expectations, we have incurred, and could continue to incur, increased inventory write-offs. Finally, if we are unable to scale and improve our forecasting, planning, production, and logistics management, we could frustrate our customers, lose sales, or diminish our brand reputation.
Interruption of our supply chain and our reliance on suppliers could affect our ability to produce or deliver our products and could negatively impact our business and profitability.
Any material interruption in our supply chain (such as material disruption of roasted coffee supply), whether due to the casualty loss of any of our roasting plants, interruptions in service by our third-party logistic service providers or common carriers that ship goods within our distribution channels, trade restrictions (such as increased tariffs or quotas, embargoes, or customs restrictions), pandemics, social or labor unrest, labor shortages, natural disasters, or political disputes and military conflicts that cause a material disruption in our supply chain could have a negative material impact on our business and our profitability. Additionally, our food, beverage, and other products are sourced from a wide variety of domestic and international business partners in our supply chain operations and, in certain cases, are produced or sourced by our licensees directly. We rely on these suppliers to provide high-quality products and to comply with applicable laws. Our ability to find qualified suppliers who meet our standards and supply products in a timely and efficient manner is a significant challenge as we increase our fresh and prepared food offerings, especially with respect to goods sourced from outside the U.S. and from countries or regions with diminished infrastructure, developing or failing economies, or which are experiencing political instability, labor discord, disruption or shortages, or social unrest. For certain products, we may rely on one or very few suppliers. A supplier’s failure to meet our standards, provide products in a timely and efficient manner, or comply with applicable laws is beyond our control. These issues could have a material negative impact on our business and profitability.Risks Related to Macroeconomic ConditionsOur financial condition and results of operations are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, a number of macroeconomic and other factors, many of which are largely outside our control.
Our operating results have been, and will continue to be, subject to a number of macroeconomic and other factors, many of which are largely outside our control. Any one or more of the factors listed below or described elsewhere in this risk factors section could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, or results of operations:• increases in real estate costs in certain domestic and international markets;• disruptions to our supply chain;• changes in climate, including changes to the frequency or severity of extreme weather events, that impact the price and availability or cost of goods and services, energy, and other materials throughout our supply chain;• changes in governmental rules and approaches to taxation;• adverse outcomes of litigation;• inflationary pressures and changes in prevailing interest rates;
• severe weather or other natural or man-made disasters affecting a large market or several closely located markets that may temporarily or for extended periods of time affect our retail business in such markets;
• government shutdowns or the risk of government shutdowns, as well as the impact or expected impact of elections, both in the U.S. and in other markets around the world;
• especially in our largest markets, including the U.S. and China, labor discord or disruption, geopolitical events, war, terrorism (including incidents targeting us), political instability, acts of public violence, boycotts, increasing anti-
20Table of ContentsAmerican sentiment in certain markets, or hostilities, social unrest, or health pandemics that lead to avoidance of public places or restrictions on public gatherings such as in our stores; and
• fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
Unfavorable economic conditions could also adversely affect our suppliers and licensees, who in turn could experience cash flow problems, more costly or unavailable financing, credit defaults, and other financial hardships. This could lead to supplier or licensee insolvency, increase our bad debt expense, or cause us to increase the levels of unsecured credit that we provide to suppliers and licensees. Further, the insolvency of any of our licensees could result in disrupted operations or our exit from a particular market, and negatively impact our reputation.
Economic conditions in the U.S. and international markets have adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, our business and financial results.
As a retailer that is dependent upon consumer discretionary spending, our results of operations are sensitive to changes in or uncertainty about macroeconomic conditions. A continued economic downturn or recession, or slowing or stalled recovery therefrom, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Our customers may have less money for discretionary purchases and may stop or reduce their purchases of our products or switch to our or our competitors’ lower-priced products as a result of various factors, including job loss, inflation, changes in prevailing interest rates, higher taxes, reduced access to credit, changes in federal economic policy, a global health pandemic, international trade disputes, or geopolitical instability. For example, reductions and continuing volatility in China may be caused by, among other things: changes in consumer spending behaviors, including those caused by a decrease in consumer confidence in general macroeconomic conditions, a decrease in consumer discretionary spending, increasing competition in the market, lower-priced competitor product offerings, negative economic impacts related to the rising geopolitical tensions between China and Taiwan, economic policies or sanctions, heightened data and cybersecurity risks associated with conduct of business in China, and food-safety related matters. We may also experience a reduction or increased volatility in demand for our products in connection with a global health pandemic. Decreases in customer traffic and/or average value per transaction without a corresponding decrease in costs would put downward pressure on margins and could have a material negative impact on our financial results. There is also a risk that if negative economic conditions or uncertainty persist for a long period of time or worsen, consumers may make long-lasting changes to their discretionary purchasing behavior, including less frequent discretionary purchases on a more permanent basis or enduring changes in behavior that precipitate a more general downturn in the restaurant industry. These and other macroeconomic factors could have an adverse effect on our sales, profitability, or development plans, which could harm our results of operations and financial condition.
Failure to meet our announced guidance or market expectations for our financial performance will likely adversely affect the market price and increase the volatility of our stock, and fluctuations in the stock market as a whole may also impact the market price and volatility of our stock.
We have in the past failed, and may in the future fail, to meet our announced guidance or market expectations, which has adversely affected, and could in the future adversely affect, the market price of our stock. Our guidance is based on certain assumptions, which may or may not prove to be correct. Failure to meet our announced guidance or market expectations going forward, particularly with respect to our operational and financial results, shareholder returns, and expectations regarding the success of our Back to Starbucks plan and related guidance, whether due to our assumptions not being met or the impact of various risks and uncertainties, will likely result in a decline and/or increased volatility in the market price of our stock. In addition, price and volume fluctuations in the stock market as a whole may affect the market price of our stock in ways that may be unrelated to our financial performance.Risks Related to Human CapitalThe loss of key personnel, difficulties with recruiting and retaining qualified personnel, or ineffectively managing changes in our workforce could adversely impact our business and financial results.
Much of our future success depends on the continued availability and service of key personnel and employees. The loss of any of our executive officers, including our chief executive officer or other key senior management personnel, could harm our business. Our success also depends substantially on the contributions and abilities of our retail store employees upon whom we rely to give customers a superior in-store experience and elevate our brand. Accordingly, our performance depends on our ability to recruit and retain high-quality management personnel and other employees to work in and manage our stores, both domestically and internationally. Our ability to do so has been and may continue to be impacted by challenges in the labor market (which has experienced, and may continue to experience, wage inflation and labor shortages), our position with respect to unions and the unionization of partners, increased employee turnover, changes in availability of our workforce and a shift toward remote or hybrid work arrangements. Our ability to attract and retain corporate, retail, and other personnel is also acutely impacted in certain international and domestic markets where the competition for a relatively small number of qualified
21Table of Contentsemployees is intense or in markets where large high-tech companies are able to offer more competitive salaries and benefits. These factors and others have also made, and may continue to make, it more difficult to maintain an effective system of operational internal controls for a dispersed workforce, and to train partners to deliver a consistently high-quality product and customer experience. Additionally, there is intense competition for qualified technology systems developers, who are necessary to develop and implement new technologies for our growth initiatives, including increasing our digital relationships with customers. If we are unable to recruit, retain, and motivate employees sufficiently to maintain our current business and support our projected growth, our business and financial performance may be adversely affected.
Changes in the availability and cost of labor could adversely affect our business.
Our business could be adversely impacted by increases in labor costs, including wages and benefits, which, in a retail business such as ours, are two of our most significant costs, both domestically and internationally. Such increases could be triggered by state and federal legislation and regulatory actions regarding wages, scheduling, and benefits; increases in healthcare and workers’ compensation insurance costs; and increases in wages and costs of other benefits necessary to attract and retain high-quality employees with the right skill sets. For example, at the federal level, effective July 1, 2024, the United States Department of Labor increased the minimum salary threshold requirements for employees who are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime requirements, and at the state level, Assembly Bill 1228 increased minimum wage and established working hour and working condition standards for certain partners in California. These changes, along with others that may occur in the future, could have a significant impact on the classification of employees as being exempt from overtime and add to our labor costs. The growth of our business can make it increasingly difficult to locate and hire sufficient numbers of employees, to maintain an effective system of operational internal controls for a globally dispersed enterprise, and to train employees worldwide to deliver a consistently high-quality product and customer experience; the failure to do so could materially harm our business and results of operations. Furthermore, we have experienced, and could continue to experience, a shortage of labor for store positions, and the increased availability of alternative telecommuting employment options by other employers could decrease the pool of available qualified talent for other key functions. In addition, our wages and benefits programs may be insufficient to attract and retain the best talent.
Starting in September 2021, Starbucks partners at a number of company-operated stores sought union representation through elections conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. Unions have secured representation rights at hundreds of our more than 10,000 U.S. company-operated stores, with potentially more to follow, and Starbucks is engaged in collective bargaining for initial collective bargaining agreements for these stores. If we encounter difficulties negotiating collective bargaining agreements, are unsuccessful in those efforts, or obtain contracts with unfavorable terms, then we could incur additional costs, change our employee culture, decrease our flexibility, and increase our operational complexity. These risks could also present the potential to disrupt our current operational model by affecting our ability to fully implement operational changes to enhance our efficiency and adapt to changing business needs.
The law places limitations on unilateral actions taken with respect to employees who are represented by unions because, in certain circumstances, the law requires the employer to notify and to bargain with the union prior to making certain operational or other changes that may affect employee wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment. Moreover, where a petition for representation has been filed by a union, the employer is also constrained from making changes in wages, hours, and working conditions. These limitations could also negatively affect our costs, change our employee culture, decrease our flexibility, and increase our operational complexity. They also present the potential to disrupt our current operational model by affecting our ability to fully implement operational changes to enhance our efficiency and adapt to changing business needs.
Moreover, we have experienced job actions in some company-operated stores. Such job actions and work stoppages have the potential to negatively impact our operations, third-party providers upon whom we rely to deliver product, our sales and customer flow in impacted locations, our costs, and can also have a negative impact on our reputation and brand.
Additionally, our position with respect to unions and the unionization of partners could negatively impact how our brand is perceived and could have material adverse effects on our business, including on our financial results. These positions could also expose us to legal risk, causing us to incur costs to defend legal and regulatory actions, potential penalties and restrictions, and reputational harm.Risks Related to CompetitionWe face intense competition in each of our channels and markets, which could lead to reduced profitability.
The specialty coffee market is intensely competitive, including with respect to product quality, innovation, service, convenience (such as delivery service and mobile ordering), and price, and we face significant and increasing competition in all of these areas in each of our channels and markets. Accordingly, we do not have leadership positions in all channels and markets. In the U.S., the ongoing focus by large competitors in the quick-service restaurant sector on selling high-quality specialty coffee beverages could lead to decreases in customer traffic to Starbucks ® stores and/or average value per transaction, adversely affecting our sales and results of operations. Similarly, continued competition from well-established competitors, or
22Table of Contentscompetition from large new entrants or well-funded smaller companies, in our domestic and international markets could hinder growth and adversely affect our sales and results of operations in those markets. Many small competitors also continue to open coffee specialty stores in many of our markets across the world, which in the aggregate may also lead to significant decreases of customer traffic to our stores in those markets. Increased competition globally in packaged coffee and tea and single-serve and ready-to-drink coffee beverage markets, including from new and large entrants to this market, could adversely affect the profitability of the Channel Development segment. In addition, not all of our competitors may seek to establish environmental or sustainability goals at a comparable level to ours, which could result in lower supply chain or operating costs for our competitors. We may incur increased costs associated with reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the use of plastic, or imposing performance obligations on our suppliers that could increase financial obligations for us and our business partners and could affect our profitability. Additionally, if we are unable to respond to consumer demand for healthy beverages and foods, or our competitors respond more effectively, this could have a negative effect on our business. We believe our ability to compete successfully in the current market environment depends on our ability to improve existing products; successfully develop and introduce new products; price our products appropriately; deliver a satisfactory customer experience; manage our investments in store development, technology, digital engagement, and delivery; and respond effectively to our competitors’ actions or offerings or to unforeseen disruptive actions. There can be no assurance these strategies will be effective, and some strategies may be effective at improving certain metrics while adversely affecting others, which could have the overall effect of harming our business. Furthermore, declines in general consumer demand for specialty coffee products for any reason, including due to consumer preference for other products, flattening demand for our products, changed customer daily routines or traffic to stores, or changed customer spending behaviors due to challenging economic conditions, could have a negative effect on our business.
Risks Related to Environmental, Social, and Governance Matters
Climate change may have an adverse impact on our business.
We recognize that there are inherent climate-related risks wherever business is conducted. For example, as we noted above, the supply and price of coffee we purchase can also be affected by multiple factors in the producing countries, such as weather and water supply quality and availability. These factors may be caused by or exacerbated by climate change. Climate change may also result in decreased availability, less favorable pricing, or other adverse consequences for non-coffee inputs in our products. In addition to impacts in producing countries, climate change may affect the availability of water in the markets in which we operate and expect to operate and elsewhere in our supply chain, which could have adverse impacts on our business. We operate in 87 markets globally. Our properties and operations may be vulnerable to the various adverse effects of climate change, which are predicted to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events and other natural cycles such as wildfires and droughts. Such events have the potential to disrupt our operations, cause store closures, disrupt the business of our third-party suppliers, and impact our customers and partners, all of which may cause us to suffer losses and incur additional costs to maintain or resume operations.
Our business is subject to evolving corporate governance and public disclosure regulations and expectations, including with respect to environmental, social, and governance matters, that could expose us to numerous risks.
We are subject to changing rules and regulations promulgated by a number of regulators and organizations, including the SEC, the European Union, the Nasdaq Stock Market, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. These rules and regulations continue to evolve in scope and complexity, and many new requirements have been created in response to laws enacted by Congress and state legislatures, which in certain cases may be inconsistent with one another, making compliance more difficult and uncertain. In addition, regulators, customers, investors, employees, and other stakeholders are focusing on environmental, social, and governance (commonly referred to as “ESG”) matters and related disclosures and operational regulations. These changing rules, regulations, and stakeholder expectations have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and increased management time and attention spent complying with or meeting such regulations and expectations. For example, developing and acting on initiatives within the scope of ESG, and collecting, measuring, and reporting ESG-related information and metrics can be costly, difficult, and time consuming and is subject to evolving reporting standards, including the SEC’s climate-related reporting requirements and similar proposals by other international regulatory bodies. For example, the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”), with different implementation dates depending on company size and geographic location, has established extensive ESG-related disclosure requirements based on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, including certain assurance obligations. The standards used to identify and collect the information and data required pursuant to the CSRD are still developing and uncertain, and this lack of certainty could result in increased costs related to complying with our reporting obligations under the CSRD and could increase the risk of failing to comply with the CSRD.
We may also communicate certain initiatives and goals related to environmental matters, diversity, responsible sourcing, social investments, and other ESG-related matters in our SEC filings or in other public disclosures. These initiatives and goals within the scope of ESG could be difficult and expensive to implement, the technologies needed to implement them may not be cost
23Table of Contentseffective and may not advance at a sufficient pace, and we could be criticized for the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of the disclosure. Further, statements about our ESG-related initiatives and goals, and progress toward those goals, may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future. Previously reported data may in the future be adjusted to reflect improvements in the availability and quality of third-party data, changing assumptions, changes in the nature and scope of our operations, and other changes in circumstances. If our ESG-related data, processes, and reporting are incomplete or inaccurate, our reputation, business, financial performance, and growth could be adversely affected. If we are unable to meet our ESG-related goals, commitments, initiatives, or evolving stakeholder or industry expectations and standards, if we change or are perceived to have changed our goals, commitments, or initiatives, or if we are perceived to have not responded appropriately to stakeholder interests in ESG issues, customers and consumers may choose to stop purchasing our products or purchase products from another company or a competitor, and our reputation, business, or financial condition may be adversely affected.
In addition, we could be criticized by shareholders, stakeholders, regulators, or other interested parties for the scope or nature of our ESG initiatives or goals or for any revisions to these goals. We have been and could continue to be subject to negative responses by governmental actors (such as anti-ESG legislation or retaliatory legislative treatment) or consumers (such as boycotts or negative publicity campaigns) targeting Starbucks, which could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial performance, and growth.
Certain activist shareholder actions have caused, and could continue to cause, us to incur expense, hinder execution of our business strategy, and adversely impact our stock price.
We actively engage in discussions with our shareholders regarding further strengthening our Company and creating long-term shareholder value. This ongoing dialogue can include certain divisive activist tactics, which can take many forms. Some shareholder activism, including potential proxy contests, has resulted in, and could in the future result in, substantial costs, such as legal fees and expenses, and the diversion of management’s and our Board’s attention and resources from our businesses and strategic plans. Additionally, public shareholder activism could give rise to perceived uncertainties as to our future, adversely affect our relationships with our customers, partners, licensees, or business partners, make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel, and cause our stock price to fluctuate based on temporary or speculative market perceptions or other factors that do not necessarily reflect the underlying fundamentals and prospects of our business. Activists or other shareholders holding a large portion of our outstanding shares will also have the ability to exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, including the election of directors, the approval of mergers, acquisitions, and other significant business transactions, shareholder proposals, and amendments to our governing documents. These risks could adversely affect our business and operating results.
Risks Related to Regulation and Litigation
Failure to comply with applicable laws and changing legal and regulatory requirements could harm our business and financial results.
Our policies and procedures are designed to comply with all applicable laws, accounting and reporting requirements, tax rules, and other regulations and requirements, including those imposed by the SEC, Nasdaq, and foreign countries, as well as applicable trade, labor, healthcare, food and beverage, sanitation, safety, environmental, labeling, anti-bribery and corruption, and merchandise laws. Such laws and regulations are complex and often subject to differing interpretations, which can lead to unintentional or unknown instances of non-compliance. For example, changes in the enforcement priorities of regulators may also shift the impact of applicable regulations on the business and the costs necessary to ensure compliance therewith, including through an expansion in the nature, scope, or complexity of matters on which we are required to report. Changes in applicable environmental laws and regulations, including expanded or additional regulations and associated costs to limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, to discourage the use of plastic, or to limit or impose additional costs on commercial water use, may result in increased compliance costs, capital expenditures, incremental investments, and other financial obligations for us and our business partners, which could affect our profitability. Other examples of emerging and potentially relevant requirements are import tariffs and restrictions grounded in, among other things, alleged human rights abuses.
In addition, our business is subject to complex and rapidly evolving U.S. and international laws and regulations regarding data privacy and data protection, and companies are under increased regulatory scrutiny relating to these matters. The Federal Trade Commission and many state attorneys general are also interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards for the online collection, use, dissemination, and security of data. The interpretation and application of existing laws and regulations regarding data privacy and data protection are in flux, and authorities around the world are considering a number of additional legislative and regulatory proposals in this area. Current and future data privacy and data protection laws and regulations (including the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, discussed in more detail in this risk factors section, and other applicable international and U.S. privacy laws), or new interpretations of existing laws and regulations, may limit our ability to collect and use data, require us to otherwise modify our data processing practices and policies, or result in the possibility of fines, litigation, or orders, which may have an adverse effect on our business and
24Table of Contentsresults of operations. The burdens imposed by these and other laws and regulations that may be enacted, or new interpretations of existing and future laws and regulations, may also require us to incur substantial costs in reaching compliance in a manner adverse to our business.
Certain jurisdictions in which our products are sold have imposed, or are considering imposing, new or increased taxes on the manufacture, distribution, or sale of some of our products, particularly our beverages, as a result of ingredients contained in our products. These taxes vary in scope and form: some apply to all beverages, including non-caloric beverages, while others apply only to beverages with a caloric sweetener (e.g., sugar). Similarly, some measures apply a single tax rate per ounce/liter on beverages containing over a certain amount of added sugar (or other sweetener), some apply a progressive tax rate depending upon the amount of added sugar (or other sweetener) in the beverage, and others apply a flat tax rate on beverages containing any amount of added sugar (or other sweetener). For example, in the Netherlands, a consumption tax is applicable on cold non-alcoholic beverages (non-milk based) at a flat tax rate of 26.13 Euro per 100 Liters. In addition to the taxes on the beverages (or components thereof), we also notice a regional increase in the adoption of environmentally focused taxes, including, for example, plastic packaging tax to encourage companies to increase usage of sustainable packaging options.
These tax measures, whatever their scope or form, have adversely impacted, and could continue to impact our business and financial performance by increasing the cost of certain of our products, reducing overall consumption of our products, or leading to negative publicity.
Finally, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has released guidance establishing a 15% global minimum tax applied on a country-by-country basis for multinational entities under Pillar Two of its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative. As of September 29, 2024, certain countries in which we operate have enacted legislation to adopt Pillar Two effective for fiscal years beginning on or after December 31, 2023, and other countries in which we operate are expected to introduce similar legislation to implement Pillar Two. This global minimum tax will not be effective for the Company until fiscal 2025, and it is not expected to result in a material impact to our consolidated financial statements. We will continue to monitor regulatory developments with respect to this initiative for potential impacts.
The complexity of the regulatory environment in which we operate and the related costs of compliance are both increasing due to additional or changing legal and regulatory requirements, our ongoing expansion into new markets and new channels, and the fact that foreign laws occasionally conflict with domestic laws. In addition to potential damage to our reputation and brand, failure by us or our business partners to comply with the various applicable laws and regulations, as well as changes in laws and regulations or the manner in which they are interpreted or applied, may result in litigation, civil and criminal liability, damages, fines and penalties, increased cost of regulatory compliance, and restatements of our financial statements, all of which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.
We have been, and could continue to be, party to litigation or other legal proceedings that could adversely affect our business, results, operations, and reputation.
We have been, and in the future may be, subject to litigation and other legal proceedings that may adversely affect our business. These legal proceedings may involve claims brought by store partners, customers, government agencies, suppliers, shareholders, or others through private actions, administrative proceedings, regulatory actions, or other litigation, including litigation on a class or collective basis on behalf of what can be a large group of potential claimants. These legal proceedings have involved, and in the future may involve, allegations of illegal, unfair, or inconsistent employment practices, including those governing wage and hour, employment of minors, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and vacation and family leave laws; food-safety issues including food-borne illness, food contamination, and adverse health effects from consumption of our food products; data security or privacy breaches; customer discrimination; personal injury in our stores; marketing and advertising claims, including claims that our environmental and social program claims are misleading or inaccurate; infringement of patent, copyright, or other intellectual property rights; violation of the federal securities laws; workers’ compensation; or other concerns. We are party to a number of pending lawsuits and governmental audits alleging violations of federal and state employment laws, including wage and hour claims, and we could be involved in similar or even more significant litigation and legal proceedings in the future. Even if the allegations against us in current or future legal matters are unfounded or we ultimately are held not liable, the costs to defend ourselves may be significant, and the litigation may subject us to substantial settlements, fines, penalties, or judgments against us and may divert management’s attention away from operating our business, all of which could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. Litigation also may generate negative publicity, regardless of whether the allegations are valid or we ultimately are not liable, which could damage our reputation and adversely impact our sales as well as our relationships with our store partners and customers. See Note 16 , Commitments and Contingencies, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for information regarding certain legal proceedings in which we are involved.
25Table of ContentsRisks Related to Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
Failure to maintain satisfactory compliance with certain privacy and data protection laws and regulations may result in substantial negative financial consequences, reputational harm, and civil or criminal penalties.
Complex local, state, national, foreign, and international laws and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer, and other processing of personal data. These privacy and data protection laws and regulations are quickly evolving, with new or modified laws and regulations proposed and implemented frequently and existing laws and regulations subject to new or different interpretations and increased enforcement and litigation. In addition, our legal and regulatory obligations are subject to unexpected changes, including the potential for regulatory or other governmental entities to enact new or additional laws or regulations, to issue rulings that invalidate prior laws or regulations, or to increase penalties significantly. Complying with these laws and regulations can be costly and can impede the development and offering of new products and services.
For example, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation (which implements the GDPR into U.K. law), impose stringent data protection requirements and provide for significant penalties for noncompliance. In China, the Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”) has established personal information processing rules, data subject rights, and obligations for personal information processors, among other things. In addition to the PIPL, China’s Data Security Law regulates data processing activities associated with personal and non-personal data. Noncompliance with these laws may result in significant civil and criminal penalties. Other newly enacted and proposed privacy and data protection laws in other jurisdictions served by Starbucks and its licensees may impose similar requirements, including restrictions on cross-border data transfers and stringent safeguards on personal and non-personal data. Such laws may impact our business operations and increase the cost and expense of compliance.
In the United States, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) requires, among other things, covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers and allows such consumers to exercise certain rights in connection with their personal information, such as the right to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA also provides for civil penalties for violations as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation. Further, the California Privacy Rights Act, which became effective in January 2023, significantly modified the CCPA to include additional compliance obligations. Since the CCPA was first passed, 19 other states have enacted similar data privacy legislation, eight of which are in effect as of the end of 2024. In addition, a number of other states have passed or are considering additional privacy laws, including laws on health data and biometric data that are in effect, or are expected to take effect in the near future. These state privacy laws will require us to incur additional costs and expenses in our efforts to comply.
Privacy and data protection laws, such as those referenced above, may impact Starbucks operations and new business models, such as Starbucks Digital Solutions, which rely on Starbucks functioning as controller of customer personal information in licensed markets. As such, Starbucks may be primarily responsible for compliance with privacy and data protection laws in the markets served by participating licensees.
Our failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations or other obligations to which we may be subject relating to personal data, or to protect personal data from unauthorized access, use, or other processing, could result in enforcement actions and regulatory investigations against us, claims for damages by customers and other affected individuals or parties, or fines and damage to our brand reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial performance, and business. The amount and scope of insurance we maintain may not cover all types of claims that may arise.
The unauthorized access, use, theft, or destruction of customer or employee data (personal, financial, or other), or of Starbucks proprietary or confidential information that is stored in our information systems or by third parties on our behalf, could impact our reputation and brand and expose us to potential liability and loss of revenues.
Many of our information technology systems (whether cloud-based or hosted in proprietary servers), including those used for our point-of-sale, web and mobile platforms, online and mobile payment systems, delivery services, rewards programs, and administrative functions, contain personal, financial, or other information that is entrusted to us by our customers, business partners, and employees. Many of our information technology systems also contain Starbucks proprietary and other confidential information related to our business, such as business plans and product development initiatives and designs, and confidential information about third parties, such as licensees and business partners. Similar to many other retail companies and because of the prominence of our brand, we have in the past experienced, and we expect to continue to experience, cyber-attacks, including phishing, and other attempts to breach, or gain unauthorized access to, our systems and databases. To date, these attacks have not had a material impact on our operations, but we cannot provide assurance that they will not have an impact in the future. Our third-party providers’ and business partners’ information technology systems and databases are likewise subject to such risks. The number and frequency of these attempts varies from year to year and increases as the scale and scope of our technology footprint and digital operations increases. In addition, to conduct our business, we provide customer and employee data, as well as Starbucks proprietary information and other confidential information important to our business, to third parties, including licensees and business partners. Individuals performing work for Starbucks and such third parties also may access
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some of this data, including on personally-owned digital devices. To the extent we, a third party, or such an individual were to experience a breach of our or their information technology systems that results in the unauthorized access, theft, use, destruction or other compromises of customers’ or employees’ data or confidential information of the Company stored in or transmitted through such systems, including through cyber-attacks or other external or internal methods, it could result in a material loss of revenues from the potential adverse impact to our reputation and brand, a decrease in our ability to retain customers or attract new ones, the imposition of potentially significant costs (including loss of data or payment for recovery of data) and liabilities, loss of business, loss of business partners and licensees, and the disruption to our supply chain, business, and plans. Unauthorized access, theft, use, destruction, or other compromises are becoming increasingly sophisticated and may occur through a variety of methods, including attacks using malicious code, vulnerabilities in software, hardware, or other infrastructure (including systems used by our supply chain), system misconfigurations, phishing, deepfakes, ransomware, malware, or social engineering. The rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies may intensify our cybersecurity risks. Our logging capabilities, or the logging capabilities of third parties, are not always complete or sufficiently granular, affecting our ability to fully understand the scope of security breaches.
Such security breaches also could result in a violation of applicable U.S. and international privacy, cyber, and other laws or trigger data breach notification laws, including new disclosure rules promulgated by the SEC, and subject us to private consumer, business partner or licensee, or securities litigation and governmental investigations and proceedings, any of which could result in our exposure to material civil or criminal liability. These risks also exist in acquired businesses, joint ventures, or companies we invest in or partner with that use separate information systems or that have not yet been fully integrated into our information systems.
Significant capital investments and other expenditures could also be required to investigate security incidents, remedy cybersecurity problems, recuperate lost data, prevent future compromises, and adapt systems and practices to react to the changing threat environment. These include costs associated with notifying affected individuals and other agencies, additional security technologies, trainings, personnel, experts, and credit monitoring services for those whose data has been breached. These costs, which could be material, could adversely impact our results of operations in the period in which they are incurred, including by interfering with the pursuit of other important business strategies and initiatives, and may not meaningfully limit the success of future attempts to breach our information technology systems.
Media or other reports of existing or perceived security vulnerabilities in our systems, or those of our third-party business partners or service providers, can also adversely impact our brand and reputation and materially impact our business. Additionally, the techniques and sophistication used to conduct cyber-attacks and compromise information technology systems, as well as the sources and targets of these attacks, change frequently and are often not recognized until such attacks are launched or have been in place for a period of time. The rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies by attackers amplifies these concerns. We continue to make significant investments in technology, third-party services, and personnel to develop and implement systems and processes that are designed to anticipate cyber-attacks and to prevent or minimize breaches of our information technology systems or data loss, but these security measures cannot provide assurance that we will be successful in preventing such breaches or data loss.
We rely heavily on information technology in our operations and growth initiatives, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption, or security failure of that technology could harm our ability to effectively operate and grow our business and could adversely affect our financial results.
We rely heavily on information technology systems across our operations for numerous purposes, including for administrative functions, point-of-sale processing and payment in our stores and online, management of our supply chain, Starbucks Cards, online business, delivery services, mobile technology (including mobile payments and ordering apps), reloads and loyalty functionality, and various other processes and transactions (including providing Starbucks Digital Solutions to participating licensees), and many of these systems are interdependent on one another for their functionality. Many of our non-store employees continue to work on a remote or hybrid basis, which has resulted in increased demand on our information technology infrastructure. Additionally, the success of several of our initiatives to drive growth, including our ability to increase digital relationships with our customers to drive incremental traffic and spend, is highly dependent on our technology systems. Furthermore, we continue to expand convenience-led formats, which depend heavily on our mobile ordering capabilities. Any failure, inadequacy, or interruption of these systems could harm our ability to effectively operate and grow our business and could adversely affect our financial results. In addition, the technologies and artificial intelligence tools we are incorporating into certain aspects of our operations may not generate the intended efficiencies and may impact our business results.
We also rely on third-party providers and platforms for some of these information technology systems and support. Our systems hardware, software, and services provided by third-party service providers are not fully redundant within a market or across our markets. Our contractual and operational safeguards may not be effective in preventing the failure of these systems or platforms to operate effectively and be available. Such failures may be caused by various factors, including power outages, climate change-related impacts, catastrophic events, physical theft, computer and network failures, inadequate or ineffective redundancy, problems with transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems or platforms, flaws in third-party software or
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services, errors or improper use by our employees or third-party service providers, or a breach in the security of these systems or platforms, including through cyber-attacks such as those that result in the blockage of our or our third-party business partners’ or service providers’ systems and platforms and those discussed in more detail in this risk factors section. If our incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity plans do not resolve these issues in an effective and timely manner, they could result in an interruption in our operations and could cause material negative impacts to our product availability and sales, the efficiency of our operations, and our financial results. In addition, remediation of any problems with our systems and related customer support could result in significant, unplanned expenses.
Given the increasing complexity and sophistication of techniques used by bad actors to obtain unauthorized access to or disable information technology systems, and the fact that cyber-attacks are being made by groups and individuals with a wide range of expertise and motives, it is increasingly difficult to anticipate and defend against cyber-attacks, and a cyberattack could occur and persist for an extended period of time before being detected. Moreover, the extent of a particular cyber incident and the steps that we may need to take to investigate the incident may not be immediately clear, and it may take a significant amount of time before such investigation can be finalized and completed and reliable information about the incident is known. During the pendency of any such investigation, we may not know the extent of the harm or how best to remediate it, and we may be required to disclose incidents before their full extent is known.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
Failure to adequately protect our intellectual property or ensure that we are not infringing on the intellectual property of others could harm the value of our brand and our business.
Our brand names, trademarks, and related intellectual property rights are critical assets, and our success depends on our continued ability to use our existing trademarks and service marks in order to increase brand awareness and further develop our branded products in both domestic and international markets. We rely on a combination of trademarks, copyrights, service marks, trade secrets, patents, and other intellectual property rights to protect our brand and branded products.
We have registered certain trademarks and have other trademark registrations pending in the U.S. and certain foreign jurisdictions. The trademarks that we currently use have not been registered in all of the markets outside of the U.S. in which we do business or may do business in the future and may never be registered in all of these markets. It may be costly and time consuming to protect our intellectual property, particularly in rapidly evolving areas, and the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property in the U.S. and foreign countries may not be adequate. In addition, the steps we have taken may not adequately ensure that we do not infringe the intellectual property of others, and third parties may claim infringement by us in the future. Any claim of infringement, whether or not it has merit, could, particularly in rapidly evolving areas, be time-consuming or result in costly litigation and could have an adverse impact on our business. In addition, we cannot ensure that licensees and other third parties who hold licenses to our intellectual property will not take actions that adversely affect the value of our intellectual property.
Item 7 · Management's Discussion & Analysis
+172 paragraphs −173 paragraphs ~172 changed
FY 2023-10-01 (earlier)
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsGeneralOur fiscal year ends on the Sunday closest to September 30. All references to store counts, including data for new store openings, are reported net of related store closures, unless otherwise noted. Fiscal years 2023 and 2022 included 52 weeks. Fiscal year 2021 included 53 weeks, with the 53rd week falling in the fourth fiscal quarter.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the fiscal year ended October 3, 2021, included in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) can be found in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 2, 2022.OverviewWe have three reportable operating segments: 1) North America, which is inclusive of the U.S. and Canada; 2) International, which is inclusive of China, Japan, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean; and 3) Channel Development. Non-reportable operating segments and unallocated corporate expenses are reported within Corporate and Other.
Our financial results and long-term growth model will continue to be driven by new store openings, comparable store sales and margin management. We believe these key operating metrics are useful to investors because management uses these metrics to assess the growth of our business and the effectiveness of our marketing and operational strategies. Throughout this MD&A, we commonly discuss the following key operating metrics:• New store openings and store count
• Comparable store sales
• Operating marginStarbucks results for fiscal 2023 demonstrate the overall strength of our brand. Consolidated revenues increased 12% to $36.0 billion in fiscal 2023 compared to $32.3 billion in fiscal 2022, primarily driven by strength in our U.S. business and growth in our International segment, partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign currency translation.
For both the North America segment and U.S. market, comparable store sales increased 9% for fiscal 2023 compared to an increase of 12% in fiscal 2022. Average ticket for both the North America segment and the U.S. market grew 6%, primarily driven by pricing in our U.S. market. The segment also experienced higher costs, primarily related to previously-committed investments in store partner wages and benefits and increased spend on partner training, as well as inflationary pressures on commodities and our supply chain. In fiscal 2022, we announced our Reinvention Plan in the U.S. market to increase efficiency while elevating the partner and customer experience. We believe the investments in partner wages and training have increased retention and in-store operational efficiencies while the acceleration of purpose-built store concepts and innovations in technologies have provided additional convenience and connection with our customers.
For the International segment, despite COVID-19 pandemic-related headwinds in China in the first half of the year, revenue grew 8% in fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022, primarily driven by net new company-operated store openings and higher product sales to and royalty revenues from our licensees. Also contributing to the increase was a 5% increase in comparable store sales, driven by customer transactions, compared to a decrease of 9% in fiscal 2022. These increases were partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign currency translation.
Revenue for our Channel Development segment increased 3% in fiscal 2023 compared with fiscal 2022, primarily driven by higher Global Coffee Alliance product sales and royalty revenue and growth in our global ready-to-drink business. In fiscal 2023, we sold the assets associated with the Seattle's Best Coffee brand to Nestlé, which resulted in a pre-tax gain of $91.3 million.
We have seen the strength and resilience of our brand as well as strong customer demand across our portfolio, with revenue and operating margin growth in fiscal 2023. We expect to continue our trend of global new store growth in fiscal 2024, driven by a dynamic portfolio of store formats in the U.S. and leveraging the strength of our brand internationally. We anticipate continued benefits from increased sales leverage and pricing decisions as well as in-store operational efficiencies driven by our Reinvention Plan. We expect the inflationary pressures on commodities and supply chain that impacted fiscal 2023 to moderate in fiscal 2024, relative to the impact on our business and financial metrics, including operating margin. Absent global economic disruptions, and based on the current trend of our business operations and our focused efforts on the Reinvention Plan, we are confident in the strength of our brand and strategy for sustainable, profitable growth over the long-term.
28Table of ContentsFinancial Highlights• Total net revenues increased 12% to $36.0 billion in fiscal 2023 compared to $32.3 billion in fiscal 2022.
• Consolidated operating income increased to $5.9 billion in fiscal 2023 compared to $4.6 billion in fiscal 2022. Fiscal 2023 operating margin was 16.3% compared to 14.3% in fiscal 2022. Operating margin expansion of 200 basis points was primarily due to pricing (approximately 250 basis points), sales leverage (approximately 240 basis points) and in-store operational efficiencies (approximately 160 basis points). These increases were partially offset by previously-committed investments in store partner wages (approximately 250 basis points) and higher general and administrative expenses, primarily in support of our Reinvention Plan (approximately 130 basis points).
• Diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) for fiscal 2023 increased to $3.58, compared to EPS of $2.83 in fiscal 2022. The increase was primarily driven by sales growth and in-store operational efficiencies. This increase was partially offset by previously-committed investments in store partner wages and higher general and administrative expenses, primarily in support of our Reinvention Plan.
• Capital expenditures were $2.3 billion in fiscal 2023 and $1.8 billion in fiscal 2022.
• We returned $3.4 billion to our shareholders in fiscal 2023 through share repurchases and dividends. We returned $6.3 billion in fiscal 2022 through share repurchases and dividends.Acquisitions and Divestitures
See Note 2 , Acquisitions, Divestitures and Strategic Alliance, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for information regarding acquisitions and divestitures.RESULTS OF OPERATIONS — FISCAL 2023 COMPARED TO FISCAL 2022Consolidated results of operations (in millions) :
RevenuesFiscal Year Ended Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022 %Change
Net revenues:Company-operated stores $ 29,462.3 $ 26,576.1 10.9 %
Licensed stores 4,512.7 3,655.5 23.4
Other 2,000.6 2,018.7 (0.9)
Total net revenues $ 35,975.6 $ 32,250.3 11.6 %
Total net revenues increased $3.7 billion, or 12%, over fiscal 2022, primarily due to higher revenues from company-operated stores ($2.9 billion). The growth in company-operated store revenue was driven by an 8% increase in comparable store sales ($2.1 billion) attributed to a 5% increase in average ticket and 3% increase in comparable transactions. Also contributing were the incremental revenues from 1,339 net new Starbucks company-operated store openings, or a 7% increase, over the past 12 months ($1.2 billion). These increases were partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign currency translation ($555 million).
Licensed stores revenue increased $857 million, primarily driven by higher product and equipment sales to and royalty revenues from our licensees ($898 million), largely due to revenue growth from existing stores and the opening of 988 net new Starbucks licensed stores over the past 12 months, partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign currency translation ($64 million).
Other revenues decreased $18 million, primarily due to the absence of revenues from the Evolution Fresh business following its sale in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 ($60 million), partially offset by an increase in revenue in the Global Coffee Alliance ($37 million).
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Operating ExpensesFiscal Year Ended Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022 Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022As a % of Total
Net RevenuesProduct and distribution costs $ 11,409.1 $ 10,317.4 31.7 % 32.0 %
Store operating expenses 14,720.3 13,561.8 40.9 42.1
Other operating expenses 539.4 461.5 1.5 1.4
Depreciation and amortization expenses 1,362.6 1,447.9 3.8 4.5
General and administrative expenses 2,441.3 2,032.0 6.8 6.3
Restructuring and impairments 21.8 46.0 0.1 0.1
Total operating expenses 30,494.5 27,866.6 84.8 86.4
Income from equity investees 298.4 234.1 0.8 0.7
Gain from sale of assets 91.3 — 0.3 —
Operating income $ 5,870.8 $ 4,617.8 16.3 % 14.3 %
Store operating expenses as a % of related revenues 50.0 % 51.0 %
Product and distribution costs as a percentage of total net revenues decreased 30 basis points, primarily due to pricing (approximately 120 basis points), partially offset by inflationary pressures on commodities and our supply chain (approximately 80 basis points).
Store operating expenses as a percentage of total net revenues decreased 120 basis points. Store operating expenses as a percentage of company-operated store revenues decreased 100 basis points, primarily due to in-store operational efficiencies (approximately 160 basis points), sales leverage (approximately 160 basis points) and pricing (approximately 160 basis points). These were partially offset by previously-committed investments in store partner wages and benefits (approximately 290 basis points) and increased spend on partner training (approximately 30 basis points).
Other operating expenses increased $78 million, primarily due to higher strategic investments in technology and other initiatives ($32 million) and support costs for our growing licensed markets ($25 million).
Depreciation and amortization expenses as a percentage of total net revenues decreased 70 basis points, primarily due to lapping amortization expenses of acquisition-related intangibles assets that are now fully amortized.
General and administrative expenses increased $409.3 million, primarily due to incremental investments in technology ($140 million), increased support costs of strategic initiatives including the Reinvention Plan ($86 million), higher performance-based compensation ($74 million) and other labor and leadership support costs ($31 million).
Income from equity investees increased $64 million, primarily due to higher income from our North American Coffee Partnership joint venture ($64 million).
Gain from sale of assets includes the sale of our Seattle's Best Coffee brand to Nestlé in the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
The combination of these changes resulted in an overall increase in operating margin of 200 basis points in fiscal 2023 when compared to fiscal 2022.
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Other Income and ExpensesFiscal Year Ended Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022 Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022As a % of Total
Net RevenuesOperating income $ 5,870.8 $ 4,617.8 16.3 % 14.3 %
Interest income and other, net 81.2 97.0 0.2 0.3
Interest expense (550.1) (482.9) (1.5) (1.5)
Earnings before income taxes 5,401.9 4,231.9 15.0 13.1
Income tax expense 1,277.2 948.5 3.6 2.9
Net earnings including noncontrolling interests 4,124.7 3,283.4 11.5 10.2
Net earnings/(loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests 0.2 1.8 0.0 0.0
Net earnings attributable to Starbucks $ 4,124.5 $ 3,281.6 11.5 % 10.2 %
Effective tax rate including noncontrolling interests 23.6 % 22.4 %
Interest income and other, net decreased $16 million, primarily due to lapping higher investment gains in the prior year.
Interest expense increased $67 million primarily due to higher debt balances and higher interest rates.
The effective tax rate for fiscal 2023 was 23.6% compared to 22.4% for fiscal 2022.The increase was due to lapping a beneficial return-to-provision adjustment related to the divestiture of certain joint venture operations (approximately 50 basis points) and a year-over-year decrease in beneficial valuation allowance activity related to international jurisdictions (approximately 40 basis points). See Note 14 , Income Taxes, for further discussion.
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Segment Information
Results of operations by segment (in millions) :
North AmericaFiscal Year Ended Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022 Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022As a % of North America Total Net Revenues
Net revenues:Company-operated stores $ 23,905.4 $ 21,214.2 90.0 % 90.8 %
Licensed stores 2,659.1 2,150.5 10.0 9.2
Other 5.1 6.1 0.0 0.0
Total net revenues 26,569.6 23,370.8 100.0 100.0
Product and distribution costs 7,530.4 6,677.2 28.3 28.6
Store operating expenses 11,959.2 10,860.0 45.0 46.5
Other operating expenses 263.8 202.1 1.0 0.9
Depreciation and amortization expenses 910.1 808.4 3.4 3.5
General and administrative expenses 389.7 303.3 1.5 1.3
Restructuring and impairments 20.7 33.3 0.1 0.1
Total operating expenses 21,073.9 18,884.3 79.3 80.8
Operating income $ 5,495.7 $ 4,486.5 20.7 % 19.2 %
Store operating expenses as a % of related revenues 50.0 % 51.2 %RevenuesNorth America total net revenues for fiscal 2023 increased $3.2 billion, or 14%, primarily due to a 9% increase in comparable store sales ($1.9 billion) driven by a 6% increase in average ticket and a 3% increase in comparable transactions. Also contributing to the increase were the performance of net new company-operated store openings over the past 12 months ($813 million) and higher product and equipment sales to and royalty revenues from our licensees ($487 million).Operating MarginNorth America operating income for fiscal 2023 increased 22% to $5.5 billion, compared to $4.5 billion in fiscal 2022. Operating margin expanded 150 basis points to 20.7%, primarily due to pricing (approximately 300 basis points), in-store operational efficiencies (approximately 230 basis points) and sales leverage. These were partially offset by previously-committed investments in store partner wages and benefits (approximately 300 basis points) and increased spend on partner training (approximately 40 basis points), as well as inflationary pressures on commodities and our supply chain (approximately 80 basis points).
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InternationalFiscal Year Ended Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022 Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022As a % of International
Total Net Revenues
Net revenues:Company-operated stores $ 5,556.9 $ 5,361.9 74.2 % 77.3 %
Licensed stores 1,853.6 1,505.0 24.8 21.7
Other 77.1 73.2 1.0 1.1
Total net revenues 7,487.6 6,940.1 100.0 100.0
Product and distribution costs 2,608.4 2,357.7 34.8 34.0
Store operating expenses 2,761.1 2,701.8 36.9 38.9
Other operating expenses 219.0 191.4 2.9 2.8
Depreciation and amortization expenses 335.1 513.0 4.5 7.4
General and administrative expenses 335.8 345.3 4.5 5.0
Total operating expenses 6,259.4 6,109.2 83.6 88.0
Income from equity investees 2.7 2.3 0.0 0.0
Operating income $ 1,230.9 $ 833.2 16.4 % 12.0 %
Store operating expenses as a % of related revenues 49.7 % 50.4 %RevenuesInternational total net revenues for fiscal 2023 increased $548 million, or 7.9%, primarily due to 927 net new Starbucks company-operated stores, or a 12% increase over the past 12 months ($421 million), as well as higher product sales to and royalty revenues from our licensees ($411 million). Also contributing to the increase was a 5% increase in comparable store sales ($233 million), primarily driven by customer transactions. These were partially offset by the impact of unfavorable foreign currency translation ($543 million).Operating MarginInternational operating income for fiscal 2023 increased 48% to $1.2 billion, compared to $833.2 million in fiscal 2022. Operating margin increased 440 basis points to 16.4%, primarily due to sales leverage (approximately 270 basis points) and lapping amortization expenses of acquisition-related intangibles assets that are now fully amortized (approximately 240 basis points).
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Channel DevelopmentFiscal Year Ended Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022 Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022As a % of Channel Development Total Net RevenuesNet revenues $ 1,893.8 $ 1,843.6
Product and distribution costs 1,250.1 1,194.2 66.0 % 64.8 %
Other operating expenses 54.6 51.6 2.9 2.8
Depreciation and amortization expenses 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0
General and administrative expenses 8.4 12.2 0.4 0.7
Total operating expenses 1,313.2 1,258.1 69.3 68.2
Income from equity investees 295.7 231.8 15.6 12.6
Gain from sale of assets 91.3 — 4.8 —
Operating income $ 967.6 $ 817.3 51.1 % 44.3 %RevenuesChannel Development total net revenues for fiscal 2023 increased $50 million, or 3%, compared to fiscal 2022, primarily due to higher Global Coffee Alliance product sales and royalty revenue ($37 million) and growth in our ready-to-drink business ($22 million).Operating MarginChannel Development operating income for fiscal 2023 increased 18% to $968 million, compared to $817 million in fiscal 2022. Operating margin increased 680 basis points to 51.1%, primarily due to the gain from sale of our Seattle's Best Coffee brand (approximately 480 basis points) and growth in our North American Coffee Partnership joint venture income (approximately 300 basis points), partially offset by impairment charges against certain manufacturing assets (approximately 100 basis points).
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Corporate and OtherFiscal Year Ended Oct 1, 2023 Oct 2, 2022 % ChangeNet revenues:Other $ 24.6 $ 95.8 (74.3) %
Total net revenues 24.6 95.8 (74.3)
Product and distribution costs 20.2 88.3 (77.1)
Other operating expenses 2.0 16.4 (87.8)
Depreciation and amortization expenses 117.3 126.4 (7.2)
General and administrative expenses 1,707.4 1,371.2 24.5
Restructuring and impairments 1.1 12.7 (91.3)
Total operating expenses 1,848.0 1,615.0 14.4
Operating loss $ (1,823.4) $ (1,519.2) 20.0 %
Corporate and Other primarily consists of our unallocated corporate expenses and Evolution Fresh, prior to its sale in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022. Unallocated corporate expenses include corporate administrative functions that support the operating segments but are not specifically attributable to or managed by any segment and are not included in the reported financial results of the operating segments.
Corporate and Other operating loss increased to $1.8 billion for fiscal 2023, or 20%, compared to $1.5 billion in fiscal 2022. This increase was primarily driven by incremental investments in technology ($131 million), increased support costs of strategic initiatives including the Reinvention Plan ($86 million) and higher performance-based compensation ($56 million).
FINANCIAL CONDITION, LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCESCash and Investment OverviewOur cash and investments were $4.2 billion and $3.5 billion as of October 1, 2023 and October 2, 2022, respectively. We actively manage our cash and investments in order to internally fund operating needs, make scheduled interest and principal payments on our borrowings, fund acquisitions and return cash to shareholders through common stock cash dividend payments and share repurchases. Our investment portfolio primarily includes highly liquid available-for-sale securities, including corporate debt securities, government treasury securities (domestic and foreign) and commercial paper as well as principal-protected structured deposits. As of October 1, 2023, approximately $2.5 billion of cash and short-term investments were held in foreign subsidiaries.Borrowing Capacity
Credit Facilities and Commercial Paper
Revolving Credit FacilityOur $3.0 billion unsecured five-year revolving credit facility (the “2021 credit facility”), of which $150.0 million may be used for issuances of letters of credit, is currently set to mature on September 16, 2026. The 2021 credit facility is available for working capital, capital expenditures and other corporate purposes, including acquisitions and share repurchases. We have the option, subject to negotiation and agreement with the related banks, to increase the maximum commitment amount by an additional $1.0 billion.Borrowings under the 2021 credit facility, which was most recently amended in April 2023, will bear interest at a variable rate based on Term SOFR, and, for U.S. dollar-denominated loans under certain circumstances, a Base Rate (as defined in the 2021 credit facility), in each case plus an applicable margin. The applicable margin is based on the Company’s long-term credit ratings assigned by the Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s rating agencies. The “Base Rate” is the highest of (i) the Federal Funds Rate (as defined in the 2021 credit facility) plus 0.500%, (ii) Bank of America’s prime rate, and (iii) Term SOFR plus 1.000%. Term SOFR means the forward-looking SOFR term rate administrated by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange plus a SOFR Adjustment of 0.100%.The 2021 credit facility contains provisions requiring us to maintain compliance with certain covenants, including a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio, which measures our ability to cover financing expenses. As of October 1, 2023, we were in compliance with all applicable covenants. No amounts were outstanding under our 2021 credit facility as of October 1, 2023 or October 2, 2022.
35Table of ContentsOur total contractual borrowing capacity for general corporate purposes was $3.0 billion as of the end of fiscal 2023.Commercial PaperUnder our commercial paper program, we may issue unsecured commercial paper notes up to a maximum aggregate amount outstanding at any time of $3.0 billion, with individual maturities that may vary but not exceed 397 days from the date of issue. Amounts outstanding under the commercial paper program are required to be backstopped by available commitments under our 2021 credit facility. The proceeds from borrowings under our commercial paper program may be used for working capital needs, capital expenditures and other corporate purposes, including, but not limited to, business expansion, payment of cash dividends on our common stock and share repurchases. As of October 1, 2023, we had no amounts outstanding under our commercial paper program. As of October 2, 2022, we had $175.0 million in borrowings outstanding under this program.Credit Facilities in JapanAdditionally, we hold the following Japanese yen-denominated credit facilities that are are available for working capital needs and capital expenditures within our Japanese market:
• A ¥5 billion, or $33.5 million, credit facility is currently set to mature on January 4, 2024. Borrowings under this credit facility are subject to terms defined within the facility and will bear interest at a variable rate based on TIBOR plus an applicable margin of 0.400%.
• A ¥10 billion, or $67.0 million, credit facility is currently set to mature on March 27, 2024. Borrowings under this credit facility are subject to terms defined within the facility and will bear interest at a variable rate based on TIBOR plus an applicable margin of 0.300%.
As of October 1, 2023 we had ¥5 billion, or $33.5 million, of borrowings outstanding under these credit facilities. As of October 2, 2022, we had no borrowings outstanding under these credit facilities.See Note 9 , Debt, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for details of the components of our long-term debt.Our ability to incur new liens and conduct sale and leaseback transactions on certain material properties is subject to compliance with terms of the indentures under which the long-term notes were issued. As of October 1, 2023, we were in compliance with all applicable covenants.Use of CashWe expect to use our available cash and investments, including, but not limited to, additional potential future borrowings under the credit facilities, commercial paper program and the issuance of debt to support and invest in our core businesses, including investing in new ways to serve our customers and supporting our store partners, repaying maturing debts, as well as returning cash to shareholders through common stock cash dividend payments and discretionary share repurchases and investing in new business opportunities related to our core and developing businesses. Furthermore, we may use our available cash resources to make proportionate capital contributions to our investees. We may also seek strategic acquisitions to leverage existing capabilities and further build our business. Acquisitions may include increasing our ownership interests in our investees. Any decisions to increase such ownership interests will be driven by valuation and fit with our ownership strategy.
We believe that net future cash flows generated from operations and existing cash and investments both domestically and internationally, combined with our ability to leverage our balance sheet through the issuance of debt, will be sufficient to finance capital requirements for our core businesses as well as shareholder distributions for at least the next 12 months. We are currently not aware of any trends or demands, commitments, events or uncertainties that will result in, or that are reasonably likely to result in, our liquidity increasing or decreasing in any material way that will impact our capital needs during or beyond the next 12 months. We have borrowed funds and continue to believe we have the ability to do so at reasonable interest rates; however, additional borrowings would result in increased interest expense in the future. In this regard, we may incur additional debt, within targeted levels, as part of our plans to fund our capital programs, including cash returns to shareholders through future dividends and discretionary share repurchases, refinancing debt maturities, as well as investing in new business opportunities. If necessary, we may pursue additional sources of financing, including both short-term and long-term borrowings and debt issuances.
We regularly review our cash positions and our determination of partial indefinite reinvestment of foreign earnings. In the event we determine that all or another portion of such foreign earnings are no longer indefinitely reinvested, we may be subject to additional foreign withholding taxes and U.S. state income taxes, which could be material. While we do not anticipate the need for repatriated funds to the U.S. to satisfy domestic liquidity requirements, any foreign earnings which are not indefinitely reinvested may be repatriated at management’s discretion. See Note 14 , Income Taxes, for further discussion.
During each of the first three quarters of fiscal 2022, we declared a cash dividend to shareholders of $0.49 per share. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, and for each of the first three quarters of fiscal 2023, we declared a cash dividend of $0.53 per
36Table of Contentsshare. Dividends are generally paid in the quarter following the declaration date. Cash returned to shareholders through dividends in fiscal 2023 and 2022 totaled $2.4 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, we declared a cash dividend of $0.57 per share to be paid on November 24, 2023, with an expected payout of approximately $651.2 million.
During the fiscal year ended October 2, 2022, we repurchased 36.3 million shares of common stock for $4.0 billion on the open market. During the fiscal year ended October 1, 2023, we repurchased 10.0 million shares of common stock for $1.0 billion on the open market. On March 15, 2022, we announced that our Board authorized the repurchase of up to an additional 40 million shares under our ongoing share repurchase program. As of October 1, 2023, 42.6 million shares remained available for repurchase under current authorizations.
Other than normal operating expenses, cash requirements for fiscal 2024 are expected to consist primarily of capital expenditures for investments in our new and existing stores, our supply chain and corporate facilities. Total capital expenditures for fiscal 2024 are expected to be approximately $3.0 billion.
The following table summarizes current and long-term material cash requirements as of October 1, 2023, which we expect to fund primarily with operating cash flows ( in millions ):Material Cash Requirements
Total Less than 1
Year
1 - 3
Years
3 - 5
Years
More than
5 Years
Operating lease obligations (1)$ 10,594.2 $ 1,577.6 $ 2,931.1 $ 2,206.9 $ 3,878.6Debt obligationsPrincipal payments 15,519.3 1,819.3 2,750.0 1,100.0 9,850.0
Interest payments 6,362.2 520.8 909.3 740.6 4,191.5Purchase obligations (2)1,078.4 694.6 311.4 72.4 —Other obligations (3)391.4 114.4 145.6 33.4 98.0
Total $ 33,945.5 $ 4,726.7 $ 7,047.4 $ 4,153.3 $ 18,018.1
(1) Amounts include direct lease obligations, excluding any taxes, insurance and other related expenses.
(2) Purchase obligations include agreements to purchase goods or services that are enforceable and legally binding on Starbucks and that specify all significant terms. Green coffee purchase commitments comprise 92% of total purchase obligations.
(3) Other obligations include other long-term liabilities primarily consisting of long-term income taxes payable, asset retirement obligations, equity investment capital commitments and finance lease obligations.Cash FlowsCash provided by operating activities was $6.0 billion for fiscal 2023, compared to $4.4 billion for fiscal 2022. The change was primarily due to a decrease in net cash used by changes in operating assets and liabilities, including lower inventory purchases driven by reduced coffee commodity prices, and higher net earnings during the period.
Cash used in investing activities was $2.3 billion for fiscal 2023, compared to $2.1 billion for fiscal 2022. The change was primarily due to an increase in spend on capital expenditures and increased purchases of investments in fiscal 2023, partially offset by increased maturities and calls of investments in fiscal 2023.
Cash used in financing activities was $3.0 billion for fiscal 2023, compared to $5.6 billion for fiscal 2022. The change was primarily due to a decrease in share repurchase activities, partially offset by an increase in net payments of commercial paper.
COMMODITY PRICES, AVAILABILITY AND GENERAL RISK CONDITIONS
Commodity price risk represents our primary market risk, generated by our purchases of green coffee and dairy products, among other items. We purchase, roast and sell high-quality arabica coffee and related products and risk arises from the price volatility of green coffee. In addition to coffee, we also purchase significant amounts of dairy products to support the needs of our company-operated stores. The price and availability of these commodities directly impact our results of operations, and we expect commodity prices, particularly coffee, to impact future results of operations. For additional details see Product Supply in Item 1 , as well as Risk Factors in Item 1A of this 10-K.
FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT
Market risk is defined as the risk of losses due to changes in commodity prices, foreign currency exchange rates, equity security prices and interest rates. We manage our exposure to various market-based risks according to a market price risk management policy. Under this policy, market-based risks are quantified and evaluated for potential mitigation strategies, such as entering into hedging transactions. The market price risk management policy governs how hedging instruments may be used to mitigate
37Table of Contentsrisk. Risk limits are set annually and speculative trading activities are prohibited. We also monitor and limit the amount of associated counterparty credit risk, which we consider to be low. We use interest rate swap agreements and treasury locks to primarily hedge against changes in benchmark interest rates related to anticipated debt issuances. We also use cross-currency swaps and foreign exchange debt instruments to hedge against changes in the fair value of our net investments in foreign operations. Excluding interest rate hedging instruments, cross currency swaps and foreign currency debt, hedging instruments generally do not have maturities in excess of three years. Refer to Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, and Note 3 , Derivative Financial Instruments, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for further discussion of our hedging instruments.The sensitivity analyses disclosed below provide only a limited, point-in-time view of the market risk of the financial instruments discussed. The actual impact of the respective underlying rates and price changes on the financial instruments may differ significantly from those shown in the sensitivity analyses.
Commodity Price RiskWe purchase commodity inputs, primarily coffee, dairy products, diesel, cocoa, sugar and other commodities, that are used in our operations and are subject to price fluctuations that impact our financial results. We use a combination of pricing features embedded within supply contracts, such as fixed-price and price-to-be-fixed contracts and financial derivatives to manage our commodity price risk exposure.
The following table summarizes the potential impact as of October 1, 2023 to Starbucks future net earnings and other comprehensive income (“OCI”) from changes in commodity prices. The information provided below relates only to the hedging instruments and does not represent the corresponding changes in the underlying hedged items (in millions) :Increase/(Decrease) to Net Earnings Increase/(Decrease) to OCI
10% Increase in
Underlying Rate
10% Decrease in Underlying Rate 10% Increase in Underlying Rate 10% Decrease in Underlying RateCommodity hedges $ 1.2 $ (1.2) $ 33 $ (33)Foreign Currency Exchange RiskThe majority of our revenue, expense and capital purchasing activities are transacted in U.S. dollars. However, because a portion of our operations consists of activities outside of the U.S., we have transactions in other currencies, primarily the Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound, South Korean won and euro. To reduce cash flow volatility from foreign currency fluctuations, we enter into derivative instruments to hedge portions of cash flows of anticipated intercompany royalty payments, inventory purchases, intercompany borrowing and lending activities and certain other transactions in currencies other than the functional currency of the entity that enters into the arrangements, as well as the translation risk of certain balance sheet items. The volatility in the foreign exchange market may lead to significant fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates and adversely impact our financial results in the case of weakening foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar.
The following table summarizes the potential impact as of October 1, 2023 to Starbucks future net earnings and other comprehensive income from changes in the fair value of these derivative financial instruments due to a change in the value of the U.S. dollar as compared to foreign exchange rates. The information provided below relates only to the hedging instruments and does not represent the corresponding changes in the underlying hedged items ( in millions ):Increase/(Decrease) to Net Earnings Increase/(Decrease) to OCI
10% Increase in Underlying Rate 10% Decrease in Underlying Rate 10% Increase in Underlying Rate 10% Decrease in Underlying RateForeign currency hedges $ 27 $ (27) $ 197 $ (197)Equity Security Price Risk
We have minimal exposure to price fluctuations on equity mutual funds and equity exchange-traded funds within our marketable equity securities portfolio. Marketable equity securities are recorded at fair value and approximates a portion of our liability under our Management Deferred Compensation Plan (“MDCP”). Gains and losses from the portfolio and the change in our MDCP liability are recorded in our consolidated statements of earnings.We performed a sensitivity analysis based on a 10% change in the underlying equity prices of our investments as of October 1, 2023 and determined that such a change would not have a significant impact on the fair value of these instruments.
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Table of ContentsInterest Rate Risk
Long-term DebtWe utilize short-term and long-term financing and may use interest rate hedges to manage our overall interest expense related to our existing fixed-rate debt, as well as to hedge the variability in cash flows due to changes in benchmark interest rates related to anticipated debt issuances. See Note 3 , Derivative Financial Instruments and Note 9 , Debt, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for further discussion of our interest rate hedge agreements and details of the components of our long-term debt, respectively, as of October 1, 2023.
The following table summarizes the impact of a change in interest rates as of October 1, 2023 on the fair value of Starbucks debt (in millions) :Fair Value Decrease in Fair Value for a 100 Basis Point Increase in Underlying RateLong-term debt (1)(2)
$ 13,426 $ (820)
(1) Amount disclosed is net of $16 million change in the fair value of our designated interest rate swaps. Refer to Note 3 , Derivative Financial Instruments, for additional information on our interest rate swap designated as a fair value hedge.
(2) Includes $750 million in Senior Notes that matured on October 1, 2023 but remained in current portion of long-term debt on the consolidated balance sheet as the debt repayment was not made until the first day of fiscal 2024.Available-for-Sale Debt SecuritiesOur available-for-sale securities comprise a diversified portfolio consisting mainly of investment-grade debt securities. The primary objective of these investments is to preserve capital and liquidity. Available-for-sale securities are recorded on the consolidated balance sheets at fair value with unrealized gains and losses reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income. We do not hedge the interest rate exposure on our investments. We performed a sensitivity analysis based on a 100 basis point change in the underlying interest rate of our available-for-sale securities as of October 1, 2023 and determined that such a change would not have a significant impact on the fair value of these instruments.CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATESCritical accounting estimates are those that management believes are the most important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results and require the most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Judgments and uncertainties may result in materially different amounts being reported under different conditions or using different assumptions.
Our significant accounting estimates are discussed in additional detail in Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K. We consider financial reporting and disclosure practices and accounting policies quarterly to ensure that they provide accurate and transparent information relative to the current economic and business environment. During the past five fiscal years, we have not made any material changes to the accounting methodologies used to assess the areas discussed below, unless noted otherwise. We believe that our significant accounting estimates involve a higher degree of judgment and/or complexity for the reasons discussed below:Income Taxes
We recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the respective tax bases of our assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using current enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which we expect the temporary differences to reverse. We routinely evaluate the likelihood of realizing the benefit of our deferred tax assets and may record a valuation allowance if, based on all available evidence, we determine that some portion of the tax benefit will not be realized.In evaluating our ability to recover our deferred tax assets within the jurisdiction from which they arise, we consider all available positive and negative evidence, including scheduled reversals of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, tax-planning strategies and results of operations. In projecting future taxable income, we consider historical results and incorporate assumptions about the amount of future state, federal and foreign pre-tax operating income adjusted for items that do not have tax consequences. Our assumptions regarding future taxable income are consistent with the plans and estimates we use to manage our underlying businesses. In evaluating the objective evidence that historical results provide, we consider three years of cumulative operating income/(loss).
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In addition, our income tax returns are periodically audited by domestic and foreign tax authorities. These audits include review of our tax filing positions, such as the timing and amount of deductions taken and the allocation of income between tax jurisdictions. We evaluate our exposures associated with our various tax filing positions and recognize a tax benefit only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authorities, including resolutions of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of our position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such a position are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. For uncertain tax positions that do not meet this threshold, we record a related liability. We adjust our unrecognized tax benefit liability and income tax expense in the period in which the uncertain tax position is effectively settled, the statute of limitations expires for the relevant taxing authority to examine the tax position or when new information becomes available. As discussed in Note 14 , Income Taxes, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K, there is a reasonable possibility that our unrecognized tax benefit liability will be adjusted within 12 months due to the expiration of a statute of limitations and/or resolution of examinations with taxing authorities.We have generated income in certain foreign jurisdictions that may be subject to additional foreign withholding taxes and U.S. state income taxes. We regularly review our plans for reinvestment or repatriation of unremitted foreign earnings. The possibility exists that foreign earnings declared as indefinitely reinvested may be repatriated as our plans are based on our estimated working and other capital needs in jurisdictions where our earnings are generated. While we do not expect to repatriate cash to the U.S. to satisfy domestic liquidity needs, if these amounts were distributed to the U.S., in the form of dividends or otherwise, we may be subject to additional foreign withholding taxes and U.S. state income taxes, which could be material.Our income tax expense, deferred tax assets and liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits reflect management’s best assessment of estimated current and future taxes to be paid. Deferred tax asset valuation allowances and our liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits require significant management judgment regarding applicable statutes and their related interpretation, the status of various income tax audits and our particular facts and circumstances. Although we believe that the judgments and estimates discussed herein are reasonable, actual results, including forecasted business performance, could differ, and we may be exposed to losses or gains that could be material. To the extent we prevail in matters for which a liability has been established or are required to pay amounts in excess of our established liability, our effective income tax rate in a given financial statement period could be materially affected.
Property, Plant and Equipment and Other Finite-Lived Assets
We evaluate property, plant and equipment, operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and other finite-lived assets for impairment when facts and circumstances indicate that the carrying values of such assets may not be recoverable. When evaluating for impairment, we first compare the carrying value of the asset to the asset’s estimated future undiscounted cash flows. If the estimated undiscounted future cash flows are less than the carrying value of the asset, we determine if we have an impairment loss by comparing the carrying value of the asset to the asset's estimated fair value and recognize an impairment charge when the asset’s carrying value exceeds its estimated fair value. The adjusted carrying amount of the asset becomes its new cost basis and is depreciated over the asset's remaining useful life.
Long-lived assets are grouped with other assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. For company-operated store assets, the impairment test is performed at the individual store asset group level, which is inclusive of property, plant and equipment and lease ROU assets. The fair value of a store’s assets is estimated using a discounted cash flow model. For other long-lived assets, fair value is determined using an approach that is appropriate based on the relevant facts and circumstances, which may include discounted cash flows, comparable transactions or comparable company analyses.
Our impairment calculations contain uncertainties because they require management to make assumptions and to apply judgment to estimate future cash flows and asset fair values. Key assumptions used in estimating future cash flows and asset fair values include projected revenue growth and operating expenses, as well as forecasting asset useful lives and selecting an appropriate discount rate. For company-operated stores, estimates of revenue growth and operating expenses are based on internal projections and consider the store’s historical performance, the local market economics and the business environment impacting the store’s performance. The discount rate is selected based on what we believe a buyer would assume when determining a purchase price for the store. The fair value of a store’s ROU asset is estimated considering what a market participant would pay to lease the asset for its highest and best use. These estimates are subjective and our ability to realize future cash flows and asset fair values is affected by factors such as ongoing maintenance and improvement of the assets, changes in economic conditions and changes in operating performance.
40Table of ContentsIn fiscal 2022, we announced our Reinvention Plan in the U.S. market to increase efficiency while elevating the partner and customer experience. As a result of the restructuring efforts in connection with the Reinvention Plan, we recorded immaterial impairment charges on our consolidated statements of earnings during the fiscal years ended October 1, 2023 and October 2, 2022. Future impairment charges attributed to our Reinvention Plan are not expected to be material.Asset impairment charges are discussed in Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K.
Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets
We evaluate goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually during our third fiscal quarter, or more frequently if an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicate impairment may exist. When evaluating these assets for impairment, we may first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit is impaired. If we do not perform a qualitative assessment, or if we determine that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, we calculate the estimated fair value of the reporting unit using discounted cash flows or a combination of discounted cash flow and market approaches.When assessing goodwill for impairment, our decision to perform a qualitative impairment assessment for an individual reporting unit is influenced by a number of factors, inclusive of the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill, the significance of the excess of the reporting unit’s estimated fair value over carrying value at the last quantitative assessment date, the amount of time in between quantitative fair value assessments and the date of acquisition. If we perform a quantitative assessment of an individual reporting unit’s goodwill, our impairment calculations contain uncertainties because they require management to make assumptions and to apply judgment when estimating future cash flows and asset fair values, including projected revenue growth and operating expenses related to existing businesses, product innovation and new store concepts, as well as utilizing valuation multiples of similar publicly traded companies and selecting an appropriate discount rate. Estimates of revenue growth and operating expenses are based on internal projections considering the reporting unit’s past performance and forecasted growth, strategic initiatives, local market economics and the local business environment impacting the reporting unit’s performance. The discount rate is selected based on the estimated cost of capital for a market participant to operate the reporting unit in the region. These estimates, as well as the selection of comparable companies and valuation multiples used in the market approaches are highly subjective, and our ability to realize the future cash flows used in our fair value calculations is affected by factors such as the success of strategic initiatives, changes in economic conditions, changes in our operating performance and changes in our business strategies, including retail initiatives and international expansion. We continue to believe the fair value of each of our reporting units is significantly in excess of its carrying value, and absent a sustained multi-year global decline in our business in key markets such as the U.S. and China, we do not anticipate incurring significant goodwill impairment in the next 12 months. Our fiscal 2023 annual goodwill impairment testing was completed in the third fiscal quarter. Where a quantitative assessment was performed, the estimated fair value of our reporting units exceeded carrying value by approximately $101 billion.
When assessing indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment, where we perform a qualitative assessment, we evaluate if changes in events or circumstances have occurred that indicate that impairment may exist. If we do not perform a qualitative impairment assessment or if changes in events and circumstances indicate that a quantitative assessment should be performed, management is required to calculate the fair value of the intangible asset group. The fair value calculation includes estimates of revenue growth, which are based on past performance and internal projections for the intangible asset group’s forecasted growth, and royalty rates, which are adjusted for our particular facts and circumstances. The discount rate is selected based on the estimated cost of capital that reflects the risk profile of the related business. These estimates are highly subjective, and our ability to achieve the forecasted cash flows used in our fair value calculations is affected by factors such as the success of strategic initiatives, changes in economic conditions, changes in our operating performance and changes in our business strategies, including retail initiatives and international expansion. We do not anticipate recording significant impairment charges in the next 12 months.Definite-lived intangible asset impairment charges are discussed in Note 8 , Other Intangible Assets and Goodwill, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K.
RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
See Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for a detailed description of recent accounting pronouncements.
FY 2024-09-29 (later)
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsYou should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this 10-K. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including those identified above, under Risk Factors in Part I, Item 1A of this 10-K, and elsewhere herein. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason. Please also see the cautionary language at the beginning of Part I of this 10-K regarding forward-looking statements.GeneralOur fiscal year ends on the Sunday closest to September 30. All references to store counts, including data for new store openings, are reported net of related store closures, unless otherwise noted. Fiscal years 2024, 2023, and 2022 included 52 weeks.
The discussion of our financial condition and results of operations for the fiscal year ended October 2, 2022, included in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) can be found in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 1, 2023.OverviewWe have three reportable operating segments: 1) North America, which is inclusive of the U.S. and Canada; 2) International, which is inclusive of China, Japan, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean; and 3) Channel Development. Unallocated corporate expenses are reported within Corporate and Other.
We believe our financial results and long-term growth model will continue to be driven by new store openings, comparable store sales, and operating margin management, underpinned by disciplined capital allocation. We believe these key operating metrics are useful to investors because management uses these metrics to assess the growth of our business and the effectiveness of our marketing and operational strategies. Throughout this MD&A, we commonly discuss the following key operating metrics:• New store openings and store count
• Comparable store sales
• Operating marginStarbucks results for fiscal 2024 reflect a challenging operating environment, notably driven by reduced customer traffic compared to fiscal 2023, that pressured our financial results. Consolidated net revenues increased 1% to $36.2 billion in fiscal 2024 compared to $36.0 billion in fiscal 2023, primarily driven by incremental revenues from net new company-operated stores over the past 12 months, partially offset by a decrease in comparable store sales and the impact of unfavorable foreign currency translation.
For both the North America segment and U.S. market, revenue increased 2% in fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023, primarily driven by net new company-operated store growth over the past 12 months and higher product and equipment sales to, and royalty revenues from, our licensees. This growth was partially offset by a 2% decline in comparable store sales. Comparable transactions for both the North America segment and the U.S. market declined 5%, partially offset by average ticket growth for both the North America segment and the U.S. market of 4%, primarily driven by annualization of pricing.
For the International segment, revenue declined 2% in fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023, primarily driven by the impact of unfavorable foreign currency translation, a 4% decline in comparable store sales driven by a decline in average ticket of 4%, and lower product and equipment sales to, and royalty revenues from, our licensees. These decreases were partially offset by net new company-operated and licensed store openings over the past 12 months.
Revenue for our Channel Development segment decreased 7% in fiscal 2024 compared with fiscal 2023, primarily driven by a decline in revenue in the Global Coffee Alliance following the sale of our Seattle’s Best Coffee brand to Nestlé in the second quarter of fiscal 2023 as well as product SKU optimization.
Our performance was lower-than-expected as a result of a pronounced customer traffic decline, reflecting our targeted and accelerated investments not improving customer behaviors as intended, as well as the macroeconomic and competitive environment in China that further pressured our results. Given these challenges, under the direction of our new chief executive officer, Brian Niccol, we are changing our business strategy to bring customers back to our stores and return to growth. Our “Back to Starbucks” strategy includes supporting our green apron partners, enhancing the customer experience, reestablishing ourselves as the community coffee house, and innovating the coffee tasting experience through product development, marketing, and in-store experience. This strategic reset will provide us with the opportunity to assess the business and refocus
34Table of Contentsour efforts, including capital allocation priorities, efficiency efforts, and store growth initiatives. We remain confident in the strength of our brand and believe that the new action plans will position the Company for sustainable long-term growth.
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Table of ContentsFinancial Highlights• Total net revenues increased 1% to $36.2 billion in fiscal 2024 compared to $36.0 billion in fiscal 2023.
• Consolidated operating income decreased to $5.4 billion in fiscal 2024 compared to $5.9 billion in fiscal 2023. Fiscal 2024 operating margin was 15.0% compared to 16.3% in fiscal 2023. Operating margin contraction of 130 basis points was primarily due to investments in store partner wages and benefits (approximately 140 basis points), deleverage (approximately 130 basis points), and increased promotional activity (approximately 100 basis points). These decreases were partially offset by pricing (approximately 180 basis points) and in-store operational efficiencies (approximately 130 basis points).
• Diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) for fiscal 2024 decreased to $3.31, compared to EPS of $3.58 in fiscal 2023. The decrease was primarily driven by contraction in operating margin as compared to the prior year.
• Capital expenditures were $2.8 billion in fiscal 2024 and $2.3 billion in fiscal 2023.
• We returned $3.8 billion and $3.4 billion to our shareholders in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023, respectively, through dividends and share repurchases.Acquisitions and Divestitures
See Note 2 , Acquisitions, Divestitures and Strategic Alliance, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for information regarding acquisitions and divestitures.RESULTS OF OPERATIONS — FISCAL 2024 COMPARED TO FISCAL 2023Consolidated results of operations (in millions) :
RevenuesFiscal Year Ended Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023 %Change
Net revenues:Company-operated stores $ 29,765.9 $ 29,462.3 1.0 %
Licensed stores 4,505.1 4,512.7 (0.2)
Other 1,905.2 2,000.6 (4.8)
Total net revenues $ 36,176.2 $ 35,975.6 0.6 %
Total net revenues increased $201 million, or 1%, over fiscal 2023, primarily due to higher revenues from company-operated stores ($304 million). The growth in company-operated store revenue was driven by incremental revenues from 1,426 net new company-operated stores, or a 7% increase, over the past 12 months ($1.2 billion). Partially offsetting this increase were a 2% decrease in comparable store sales ($629 million), attributable to a 4% decrease in comparable transactions, partially offset by a 2% increase in average ticket, primarily due to annualization of pricing, and unfavorable foreign currency translation impacts ($235 million).
Licensed stores revenue decreased $8 million, primarily driven by lower product and equipment sales to, and royalty revenues from, our licensees in our International segment ($69 million) and unfavorable foreign currency translation impacts ($27 million), partially offset by higher product and equipment sales to, and royalty revenues from, our licensees in our North America segment ($80 million).
Other revenues decreased $95 million, primarily due to a decline in revenue in the Global Coffee Alliance ($125 million) following the sale of our Seattle’s Best Coffee brand to Nestlé in the second quarter of fiscal 2023 as well as product SKU optimization.
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Operating ExpensesFiscal Year Ended Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023 Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023As a % of Total
Net RevenuesProduct and distribution costs $ 11,180.6 $ 11,409.1 30.9 % 31.7 %
Store operating expenses 15,286.5 14,720.3 42.3 40.9
Other operating expenses 565.6 539.4 1.6 1.5
Depreciation and amortization expenses 1,512.6 1,362.6 4.2 3.8
General and administrative expenses 2,523.3 2,441.3 7.0 6.8
Restructuring and impairments — 21.8 — 0.1
Total operating expenses 31,068.6 30,494.5 85.9 84.8
Income from equity investees 301.2 298.4 0.8 0.8
Gain from sale of assets — 91.3 — 0.3
Operating income $ 5,408.8 $ 5,870.8 15.0 % 16.3 %
Store operating expenses as a % of related revenues 51.4 % 50.0 %
Product and distribution costs as a percentage of total net revenues decreased 80 basis points, primarily due to the impact of increased sales from pricing (approximately 70 basis points) and a reduction in supply chain costs (approximately 60 basis points).
Store operating expenses as a percentage of total net revenues increased 140 basis points. Store operating expenses as a percentage of company-operated store revenues increased 140 basis points, primarily due to investments in store partner wages and benefits (approximately 170 basis points), deleverage (approximately 80 basis points), and increased promotional activity (approximately 70 basis points), partially offset by in-store operational efficiencies (approximately 170 basis points).
Other operating expenses increased $26 million, primarily due to support costs for our growing licensed markets.
Depreciation and amortization expenses as a percentage of total net revenues increased 40 basis points, primarily due to deleverage.
General and administrative expenses increased $82 million, primarily due to incremental investments in technology ($93 million), investments in partner wages and benefits ($90 million), and certain proxy solicitation and advisory services costs incurred in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 ($28 million). These increases were partially offset by lower performance-based compensation ($86 million) and the lapping of donations to The Starbucks Foundation made in fiscal 2023 ($30 million).
Gain from sale of assets includes the sale of our Seattle’s Best Coffee brand to Nestlé in the second quarter of fiscal 2023.
The combination of these changes resulted in an overall decrease in operating margin of 130 basis points in fiscal 2024 when compared to fiscal 2023.
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Other Income and ExpensesFiscal Year Ended Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023 Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023As a % of Total
Net RevenuesOperating income $ 5,408.8 $ 5,870.8 15.0 % 16.3 %
Interest income and other, net 122.8 81.2 0.3 0.2
Interest expense (562.0) (550.1) (1.6) (1.5)
Earnings before income taxes 4,969.6 5,401.9 13.7 15.0
Income tax expense 1,207.3 1,277.2 3.3 3.6
Net earnings including noncontrolling interests 3,762.3 4,124.7 10.4 11.5
Net earnings/(loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests 1.4 0.2 0.0 0.0
Net earnings attributable to Starbucks $ 3,760.9 $ 4,124.5 10.4 % 11.5 %
Effective tax rate including noncontrolling interests 24.3 % 23.6 %
Interest income and other, net increased $42 million, and i nterest expens e increased $12 million, both primarily due to higher interest rates in the current year.
The effective tax rate for fiscal 2024 was 24.3% compared to 23.6% for fiscal 2023.The increase was due to lapping the release of valuation allowances recorded against certain deferred tax assets of an international jurisdiction in the prior year (approximately 80 basis points) and the accrual of foreign withholding taxes related to the current year earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries (approximately 60 basis points), partially offset by electing an alternative tax approach in a certain foreign jurisdiction that resulted in a tax benefit in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 (approximately 60 basis points). See Note 14 , Income Taxes, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K, for further discussion.
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Segment Information
Results of operations by segment (in millions) :
North AmericaFiscal Year Ended Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023 Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023As a % of North America Total Net Revenues
Net revenues:Company-operated stores $ 24,258.7 $ 23,905.4 89.8 % 90.0 %
Licensed stores 2,747.4 2,659.1 10.2 10.0
Other 3.4 5.1 0.0 0.0
Total net revenues 27,009.5 26,569.6 100.0 100.0
Product and distribution costs 7,478.0 7,530.4 27.7 28.3
Store operating expenses 12,467.1 11,959.2 46.2 45.0
Other operating expenses 280.9 263.8 1.0 1.0
Depreciation and amortization expenses 1,052.4 910.1 3.9 3.4
General and administrative expenses 375.8 389.7 1.4 1.5
Restructuring and impairments — 20.7 — 0.1
Total operating expenses 21,654.2 21,073.9 80.2 79.3
Operating income $ 5,355.3 $ 5,495.7 19.8 % 20.7 %
Store operating expenses as a % of related revenues 51.4 % 50.0 %RevenuesNorth America total net revenues for fiscal 2024 increased $440 million, or 2%, primarily driven by net new company-operated store growth of 5%, or 533 stores, over the past 12 months ($788 million) and higher product and equipment sales to, and royalty revenues from, our licensees ($80 million). This growth was partially offset by a 2% decline in comparable store sales ($420 million) driven by a 5% decrease in comparable transactions, partially offset by a 4% increase in average ticket, primarily due to annualization of pricing.Operating MarginNorth America operating income for fiscal 2024 decreased 3% to $5.4 billion, compared to $5.5 billion in fiscal 2023. Operating margin contracted 90 basis points to 19.8%, primarily due to investments in store partner wages and benefits (approximately 150 basis points), deleverage (approximately 150 basis points), and increased promotional activity (approximately 100 basis points), partially offset by pricing (approximately 220 basis points) and in-store operational efficiencies (approximately 150 basis points).
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InternationalFiscal Year Ended Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023 Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023As a % of International
Total Net Revenues
Net revenues:Company-operated stores $ 5,507.2 $ 5,556.9 75.0 % 74.2 %
Licensed stores 1,757.7 1,853.6 24.0 24.8
Other 74.0 77.1 1.0 1.0
Total net revenues 7,338.9 7,487.6 100.0 100.0
Product and distribution costs 2,575.2 2,608.4 35.1 34.8
Store operating expenses 2,819.4 2,761.1 38.4 36.9
Other operating expenses 225.1 219.0 3.1 2.9
Depreciation and amortization expenses 338.3 335.1 4.6 4.5
General and administrative expenses 338.8 335.8 4.6 4.5
Total operating expenses 6,296.8 6,259.4 85.8 83.6
Income from equity investees 3.6 2.7 0.0 0.0
Operating income $ 1,045.7 $ 1,230.9 14.2 % 16.4 %
Store operating expenses as a % of related revenues 51.2 % 49.7 %RevenuesInternational total net revenues for fiscal 2024 decreased $149 million, or 2%, primarily due to unfavorable foreign currency translation impacts ($252 million), as well as a 4% decline in comparable store sales ($210 million), driven by a 4% decline in average ticket. Also contributing to the decline in international total net revenues were lower product and equipment sales to, and royalty revenues from, our licensees ($69 million), largely driven by continued disruptions due to multiple international conflicts, partially offset by the performance of 654 net new licensed store openings over the past 12 months. These decreases were partially offset by net new company-operated store growth of 10%, or 893 stores, over the past 12 months ($378 million).Operating MarginInternational operating income for fiscal 2024 decreased 15% to $1.0 billion, compared to $1.2 billion in fiscal 2023. Operating margin contracted 220 basis points to 14.2%, primarily due to increased promotional activity (approximately 170 basis points) and investments in store partner wages and benefits (approximately 120 basis points), partially offset by in-store operational efficiencies (approximately 100 basis points).
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Channel DevelopmentFiscal Year Ended Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023 Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023As a % of Channel Development Total Net RevenuesNet revenues $ 1,769.8 $ 1,893.8
Product and distribution costs 1,075.4 1,250.1 60.8 % 66.0 %
Other operating expenses 58.4 54.6 3.3 2.9
Depreciation and amortization expenses — 0.1 0.0 0.0
General and administrative expenses 7.7 8.4 0.4 0.4
Total operating expenses 1,141.5 1,313.2 64.5 69.3
Income from equity investees 297.6 295.7 16.8 15.6
Gain from sale of assets — 91.3 — 4.8
Operating income $ 925.9 $ 967.6 52.3 % 51.1 %RevenuesChannel Development total net revenues for fiscal 2024 decreased $124 million, or 7%, compared to fiscal 2023, primarily due to a decline in revenue in the Global Coffee Alliance ($125 million) following the sale of our Seattle’s Best Coffee brand to Nestlé in the second quarter of fiscal 2023 as well as product SKU optimization.Operating MarginChannel Development operating income for fiscal 2024 decreased 4% to $926 million, compared to $968 million in fiscal 2023. Operating margin expanded 120 basis points to 52.3%, primarily due to mix shift (approximately 350 basis points), strength in our North American Coffee Partnership joint venture income (approximately 120 basis points), and lapping impairment charges against certain manufacturing assets in the second quarter of fiscal 2023 (approximately 90 basis points). These increases were partially offset by lapping the gain from the sale of our Seattle’s Best Coffee brand in the second quarter of fiscal 2023 (approximately 480 basis points).
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Corporate and OtherFiscal Year Ended Sep 29, 2024 Oct 1, 2023 % ChangeNet revenues:Other $ 58.0 $ 24.6 135.8 %
Total net revenues 58.0 24.6 135.8
Product and distribution costs 52.0 20.2 157.4
Other operating expenses 1.2 2.0 (40.0)
Depreciation and amortization expenses 121.9 117.3 3.9
General and administrative expenses 1,801.0 1,707.4 5.5
Restructuring and impairments — 1.1 nm
Total operating expenses 1,976.1 1,848.0 6.9
Operating loss $ (1,918.1) $ (1,823.4) 5.2 %
Corporate and Other primarily consists of our unallocated corporate expenses. Unallocated corporate expenses include corporate administrative functions that support the operating segments but are not specifically attributable to or managed by any segment and are not included in the reported financial results of the operating segments.
Corporate and Other operating loss increased to $1.9 billion for fiscal 2024, or 5%, compared to $1.8 billion in fiscal 2023. This increase was primarily driven by incremental investments in technology ($93 million), investments in partner wages and benefits ($57 million), and certain proxy solicitation and advisory services costs incurred in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 ($28 million). These increases were partially offset by lower performance-based compensation ($61 million) and the lapping of donations to The Starbucks Foundation made in fiscal 2023 ($30 million).
FINANCIAL CONDITION, LIQUIDITY, AND CAPITAL RESOURCESCash and Investment OverviewOur cash and investments were $3.8 billion and $4.2 billion as of September 29, 2024, and October 1, 2023, respectively. We actively manage our cash and investments in order to internally fund operating needs, make scheduled interest and principal payments on our borrowings, fund acquisitions, and return cash to shareholders through common stock cash dividend payments and share repurchases. Our investment portfolio primarily includes highly liquid available-for-sale securities, including corporate debt securities, government treasury securities (domestic and foreign), and commercial paper as well as principal-protected structured deposits. As of September 29, 2024, approximately $2.1 billion of cash and short-term investments were held in foreign subsidiaries.Borrowing Capacity
Credit Facilities and Commercial Paper
Revolving Credit FacilityOur $3.0 billion unsecured five-year revolving credit facility (the “2021 credit facility”), of which $150.0 million may be used for issuances of letters of credit, is currently set to mature on September 16, 2026. The 2021 credit facility is available for working capital, capital expenditures, and other corporate purposes, including acquisitions and share repurchases. We have the option, subject to negotiation and agreement with the related banks, to increase the maximum commitment amount by an additional $1.0 billion.Borrowings under the 2021 credit facility, which was most recently amended in April 2023, will bear interest at a variable rate based on Term SOFR, and, for U.S. dollar-denominated loans under certain circumstances, a Base Rate (as defined in the 2021 credit facility), in each case plus an applicable margin. The applicable margin is based on the Company’s long-term credit ratings assigned by the Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s rating agencies. The “Base Rate” is the highest of (i) the Federal Funds Rate (as defined in the 2021 credit facility) plus 0.500%, (ii) Bank of America’s prime rate, and (iii) Term SOFR plus 1.000%. Term SOFR means the forward-looking SOFR term rate administrated by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange plus a SOFR Adjustment of 0.100%.The 2021 credit facility contains provisions requiring us to maintain compliance with certain covenants, including a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio, which measures our ability to cover financing expenses. As of September 29, 2024, we were in compliance with all applicable covenants. No amounts were outstanding under our 2021 credit facility as of September 29, 2024, or October 1, 2023.
42Table of ContentsOur total available contractual borrowing capacity for general corporate purposes was $3.0 billion as of the end of fiscal 2024.Commercial PaperUnder our commercial paper program, we may issue unsecured commercial paper notes up to a maximum aggregate amount outstanding at any time of $3.0 billion, with individual maturities that may vary but not exceed 397 days from the date of issue. Amounts outstanding under the commercial paper program are required to be backstopped by available commitments under our 2021 credit facility. The proceeds from borrowings under our commercial paper program may be used for working capital needs, capital expenditures, and other corporate purposes, including, but not limited to, business expansion, payment of cash dividends on our common stock and share repurchases. As of September 29, 2024, and October 1, 2023, we had no amounts outstanding under our commercial paper program.Credit Facilities in JapanAdditionally, we hold the following Japanese yen-denominated credit facilities that are available for working capital needs and capital expenditures within our Japanese market:
• A ¥5.0 billion, or $34.5 million, credit facility is currently set to mature on December 30, 2024. Borrowings under this credit facility are subject to terms defined within the facility and will bear interest at a variable rate based on Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate (“TIBOR”) plus an applicable margin of 0.400%.
• A ¥10.0 billion, or $69.1 million, credit facility is currently set to mature on March 27, 2025. Borrowings under this credit facility are subject to terms defined within the facility and will bear interest at a variable rate based on TIBOR plus an applicable margin of 0.300%.
As of September 29, 2024, we had no borrowings outstanding under these credit facilities. As of October 1, 2023, we had ¥5.0 billion, or $33.5 million, of borrowings outstanding under these credit facilities.See Note 9 , Debt, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for details of the components of our long-term debt.Our ability to incur new liens and conduct sale and leaseback transactions on certain material properties is subject to compliance with terms of the indentures under which the long-term notes were issued. As of September 29, 2024, we were in compliance with all applicable covenants.Use of CashWe expect to use our available cash and investments, including, but not limited to, additional potential future borrowings under the credit facilities, commercial paper program, and the issuance of debt to support and invest in our core businesses, including investing in new ways to serve our customers and supporting our store partners, repaying maturing debts, returning cash to shareholders through common stock cash dividend payments and discretionary share repurchases, and investing in new business opportunities related to our core and developing businesses. Furthermore, we may use our available cash resources to make proportionate capital contributions to our investees. We may also seek strategic acquisitions to leverage existing capabilities and further build our business. Acquisitions may include increasing our ownership interests in our investees. Any decisions to increase such ownership interests will be driven by valuation and fit with our ownership strategy.
We believe that net future cash flows generated from operations and existing cash and investments both domestically and internationally, combined with our ability to leverage our balance sheet through the issuance of debt, will be sufficient to finance capital requirements for our core businesses as well as shareholder distributions for at least the next 12 months. We are currently not aware of any trends or demands, commitments, events, or uncertainties that will result in, or that are reasonably likely to result in, our liquidity increasing or decreasing in any material way that will impact our capital needs during or beyond the next 12 months. We have borrowed funds and continue to believe we have the ability to do so at reasonable interest rates; however, additional borrowings would result in increased interest expense in the future. In this regard, we may incur additional debt, within targeted levels, as part of our plans to fund our capital programs, including cash returns to shareholders through future dividends and discretionary share repurchases, refinancing debt maturities, as well as investing in new business opportunities. If necessary, we may pursue additional sources of financing, including both short-term and long-term borrowings and debt issuances.
We regularly review our cash positions and our determination of partial indefinite reinvestment of foreign earnings. In the event we determine that all or another portion of such foreign earnings are no longer indefinitely reinvested, we may be subject to additional foreign withholding taxes, which could be material. Any foreign earnings that are not indefinitely reinvested may be repatriated at management’s discretion. During fiscal 2024, we paid approximately $18 million for foreign withholding taxes related to repatriating the earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries. See Note 14 , Income Taxes, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K, for further discussion.
43Table of ContentsDuring each of the first three quarters of fiscal 2023, we declared a cash dividend to shareholders of $0.53 per share. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, and for each of the first three quarters of fiscal 2024, we declared a cash dividend of $0.57 per share. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, we declared a cash dividend of $0.61 per share to be paid on November 29, 2024, with an expected payout of approximately $691.4 million. Dividends are generally paid in the quarter following the declaration date. Cash returned to shareholders through dividends in fiscal 2024 and 2023 totaled $2.6 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively.
During the fiscal year ended October 1, 2023, we repurchased 10.0 million shares of common stock for $1.0 billion on the open market. During the fiscal year ended September 29, 2024, we repurchased 12.8 million shares of common stock for $1.3 billion on the open market. As of September 29, 2024, 29.8 million shares remained available for repurchase under current authorizations.
Other than normal operating expenses, cash requirements for fiscal 2025 are expected to consist primarily of capital expenditures for investments in our new and existing stores, our supply chain, and corporate facilities. Total capital expenditures for fiscal 2025 are expected to be reasonably consistent with fiscal 2024.
The following table summarizes current and long-term material cash requirements as of September 29, 2024, which we expect to fund primarily with operating cash flows ( in millions ):Material Cash Requirements
Total Less than 1
Year
1 - 3
Years
3 - 5
Years
More than
5 Years
Operating lease obligations (1)$ 11,942.3 $ 1,808.5 $ 3,202.2 $ 2,433.1 $ 4,498.5Debt obligationsPrincipal payments 15,700.0 1,250.0 3,000.0 2,350.0 9,100.0
Interest payments 6,359.4 588.3 968.9 798.6 4,003.6Purchase obligations (2)1,296.0 1,010.0 245.9 40.1 —Other obligations (3)350.8 116.3 101.0 37.3 96.2
Total $ 35,648.5 $ 4,773.1 $ 7,518.0 $ 5,659.1 $ 17,698.3
(1) Amounts include direct lease obligations, excluding any taxes, insurance, and other related expenses.
(2) Purchase obligations include agreements to purchase goods or services that are enforceable and legally binding on Starbucks and that specify all significant terms. Green coffee purchase commitments comprise 86% of total purchase obligations.
(3) Other obligations include other long-term liabilities primarily consisting of long-term asset retirement obligations, income taxes payable, equity investment capital commitments, and finance lease obligations.Cash FlowsCash provided by operating activities was $6.1 billion for fiscal 2024, compared to $6.0 billion for fiscal 2023. The change was primarily due to an increase in net cash provided by changes in other operating assets and liabilities, primarily driven by net hedging activity, largely related to our coffee hedging program. See Note 3 , Derivative Financial Instruments, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for further discussion. Also contributing were the change in operating lease liability driven by the timing of cash payment for rent, an increase in depreciation and amortization driven by capital additions, and higher distributions received from our North America Coffee Partnership. These increases were partially offset by lower net earnings during the period and higher inventory purchase costs, primarily driven by increased coffee commodity prices.
Cash used in investing activities was $2.7 billion for fiscal 2024, compared to $2.3 billion for fiscal 2023. The change was primarily due to increased capital expenditures, driven by higher existing and new store investments in North America, and lapping the proceeds from the prior year sale of Seattle’s Best Coffee brand to Nestlé. These increases were partially offset by higher maturities and calls of investments, driven by maturities of structured deposits.
Cash used in financing activities was $3.7 billion for fiscal 2024, compared to $3.0 billion for fiscal 2023. The change was primarily due to an increase in repayments of debt and an increase in cash returned to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, partially offset by an increase in net proceeds from issuances of debt.
44Table of ContentsCOMMODITY PRICES, AVAILABILITY, AND GENERAL RISK CONDITIONS
Commodity price risk represents our primary market risk, generated by our purchases of green coffee and dairy products, among other items. We purchase, roast, and sell high-quality arabica coffee and related products, and risk arises from the price volatility of green coffee. In addition to coffee, we also purchase significant amounts of dairy products to support the needs of our company-operated stores. The price and availability of these commodities directly impact our results of operations, and we expect commodity prices, particularly coffee, to impact future results of operations. For additional details see Product Supply in Item 1 of Part I of this 10-K, as well as Risk Factors in Item 1A of Part I this 10-K.
FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT
Market risk is defined as the risk of losses due to changes in commodity prices, foreign currency exchange rates, equity security prices, and interest rates. We manage our exposure to various market-based risks according to a market price risk management policy. Under this policy, market-based risks are quantified and evaluated for potential mitigation strategies, such as entering into hedging transactions. The market price risk management policy governs how hedging instruments may be used to mitigate risk. Risk limits are set annually, and speculative trading activities are prohibited. We also monitor and limit the amount of associated counterparty credit risk, which we consider to be low. We use interest rate swap agreements and treasury locks to primarily hedge against changes in benchmark interest rates related to anticipated debt issuances. We also use cross-currency swaps to hedge against changes in the fair value of our net investments in foreign operations. Excluding interest rate hedging instruments and cross currency swaps, hedging instruments generally do not have maturities in excess of three years. Refer to Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, and Note 3 , Derivative Financial Instruments, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for further discussion of our hedging instruments.The sensitivity analyses disclosed below provide only a limited, point-in-time view of the market risk of the financial instruments discussed. The actual impact of the respective underlying rates and price changes on the financial instruments may differ significantly from those shown in the sensitivity analyses.
Commodity Price RiskWe purchase commodity inputs, primarily coffee, dairy products, diesel, cocoa, sugar, and other commodities, that are used in our operations and are subject to price fluctuations that impact our financial results. We use a combination of pricing features embedded within supply contracts, such as fixed-price and price-to-be-fixed contracts and financial derivatives, to manage our commodity price risk exposure.
The following table summarizes the potential impact as of September 29, 2024, to Starbucks future net earnings and other comprehensive income (“OCI”) from changes in commodity prices. The information provided below relates only to the hedging instruments and does not represent the corresponding changes in the underlying hedged items (in millions) :Increase/(Decrease) to Net Earnings Increase/(Decrease) to OCI
10% Increase in
Underlying Rate
10% Decrease in Underlying Rate 10% Increase in Underlying Rate 10% Decrease in Underlying RateCommodity hedges $ 2 $ (2) $ 21 $ (21)Foreign Currency Exchange RiskThe majority of our revenue, expense, and capital purchasing activities are transacted in U.S. dollars. However, because a portion of our operations consists of activities outside of the U.S., we have transactions in other currencies, primarily the Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound, South Korean won, and euro. To reduce cash flow volatility from foreign currency fluctuations, we enter into derivative instruments to hedge portions of cash flows of anticipated intercompany royalty payments, inventory purchases, intercompany borrowing, and lending activities, and certain other transactions in currencies other than the functional currency of the entity that enters into the arrangements, as well as the translation risk of certain balance sheet items. The volatility in the foreign exchange market may lead to significant fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates and adversely impact our financial results in the case of weakening foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar.
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The following table summarizes the potential impact as of September 29, 2024, to Starbucks future net earnings and other comprehensive income from changes in the fair value of these derivative financial instruments due to a change in the value of the U.S. dollar as compared to foreign exchange rates. The information provided below relates only to the hedging instruments and does not represent the corresponding changes in the underlying hedged items ( in millions ):Increase/(Decrease) to Net Earnings Increase/(Decrease) to OCI
10% Increase in Underlying Rate 10% Decrease in Underlying Rate 10% Increase in Underlying Rate 10% Decrease in Underlying RateForeign currency hedges $ 24 $ (24) $ 489 $ (489)Equity Security Price Risk
We have minimal exposure to price fluctuations on equity mutual funds and equity exchange-traded funds within our marketable equity securities portfolio. Marketable equity securities are recorded at fair value and approximates a portion of our liability under our Management Deferred Compensation Plan (“MDCP”). Gains and losses from the portfolio and the change in our MDCP liability are recorded in our consolidated statements of earnings.We performed a sensitivity analysis based on a 10% change in the underlying equity prices of our investments as of September 29, 2024, and determined that such a change would not have a significant impact on the fair value of these instruments.Interest Rate Risk
Long-term DebtWe utilize short-term and long-term financing and may use interest rate hedges to manage our overall interest expense related to our existing fixed-rate debt, as well as to hedge the variability in cash flows due to changes in benchmark interest rates related to anticipated debt issuances. See Note 3 , Derivative Financial Instruments and Note 9 , Debt, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for further discussion of our interest rate hedge agreements and details of the components of our long-term debt, respectively, as of September 29, 2024.
The following table summarizes the impact of a change in interest rates as of September 29, 2024, on the fair value of Starbucks debt (in millions) :Fair Value Decrease in Fair Value for a 100 Basis Point Increase in Underlying RateLong-term debt (1)
$ 14,647 $ (943)
(1) Amount disclosed is net of $15 million change in the fair value of our designated interest rate swaps. Refer to Note 3 , Derivative Financial Instruments, for additional information on our interest rate swap designated as a fair value hedge.Available-for-Sale Debt SecuritiesOur available-for-sale securities comprise a diversified portfolio consisting mainly of investment-grade debt securities. The primary objective of these investments is to preserve capital and liquidity. Available-for-sale securities are recorded on the consolidated balance sheets at fair value with unrealized gains and losses reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income. We do not hedge the interest rate exposure on our investments. We performed a sensitivity analysis based on a 100 basis point change in the underlying interest rate of our available-for-sale securities as of September 29, 2024, and determined that such a change would not have a significant impact on the fair value of these instruments.CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATESCritical accounting estimates are those that management believes are the most important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results and require the most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Judgments and uncertainties may result in materially different amounts being reported under different conditions or using different assumptions.
Our significant accounting estimates are discussed in additional detail in Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K. We consider financial reporting and disclosure practices and accounting policies quarterly to ensure that they provide accurate and transparent information relative to the current economic and business environment. During the past five fiscal years, we have not made any material changes to the accounting methodologies used to assess the areas discussed below, unless noted otherwise. We believe that our significant accounting estimates involve a higher degree of judgment and/or complexity for the reasons discussed below.
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Table of ContentsIncome Taxes
We recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities based on the differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the respective tax bases of our assets and liabilities. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using current enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which we expect the temporary differences to reverse. We routinely evaluate the likelihood of realizing the benefit of our deferred tax assets and may record a valuation allowance if, based on all available evidence, we determine that some portion of the tax benefit will not be realized.In evaluating our ability to recover our deferred tax assets within the jurisdiction from which they arise, we consider all available positive and negative evidence, including scheduled reversals of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, tax-planning strategies, and results of operations. In projecting future taxable income, we consider historical results and incorporate assumptions about the amount of future state, federal, and foreign pre-tax operating income adjusted for items that do not have tax consequences. Our assumptions regarding future taxable income are consistent with the plans and estimates we use to manage our underlying businesses. In evaluating the objective evidence that historical results provide, we consider three years of cumulative operating income/(loss).
In addition, our income tax returns are periodically audited by domestic and foreign tax authorities. These audits include review of our tax filing positions, such as the timing and amount of deductions taken and the allocation of income between tax jurisdictions. We evaluate our exposures associated with our various tax filing positions and recognize a tax benefit only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authorities, including resolutions of any related appeals or litigation processes, based on the technical merits of our position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such a position are measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. For uncertain tax positions that do not meet this threshold, we record a related liability. We adjust our unrecognized tax benefit liability and income tax expense in the period in which the uncertain tax position is effectively settled, the statute of limitations expires for the relevant taxing authority to examine the tax position, or when new information becomes available. As discussed in Note 14 , Income Taxes, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K, there is a reasonable possibility that our unrecognized tax benefit liability will be adjusted within 12 months due to the expiration of a statute of limitations and/or resolution of examinations with taxing authorities.We have generated income in certain foreign jurisdictions that may be subject to additional foreign withholding taxes and U.S. state income taxes. We regularly review our plans for reinvestment or repatriation of unremitted foreign earnings. The possibility exists that foreign earnings declared as indefinitely reinvested may be repatriated as our plans are based on our estimated working and other capital needs in jurisdictions where our earnings are generated. While we do not expect to repatriate cash to the U.S. to satisfy domestic liquidity needs, if these amounts were distributed to the U.S., in the form of dividends or otherwise, we may be subject to additional foreign withholding taxes and U.S. state income taxes, which could be material.Our income tax expense and deferred tax assets and liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits reflect management’s best assessment of estimated current and future taxes to be paid. Deferred tax asset valuation allowances and our liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits require significant management judgment regarding applicable statutes and their related interpretation, the status of various income tax audits, and our particular facts and circumstances. Although we believe that the judgments and estimates discussed herein are reasonable, actual results, including forecasted business performance, could differ, and we may be exposed to losses or gains that could be material. To the extent we prevail in matters for which a liability has been established or are required to pay amounts in excess of our established liability, our effective income tax rate in a given financial statement period could be materially affected.
47Table of ContentsProperty, Plant and Equipment and Other Finite-Lived Assets
We evaluate property, plant and equipment, operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and other finite-lived assets for impairment when facts and circumstances indicate that the carrying values of such assets may not be recoverable. When evaluating for impairment, we first compare the carrying value of the asset to the asset’s estimated future undiscounted cash flows. If the estimated undiscounted future cash flows are less than the carrying value of the asset, we determine if we have an impairment loss by comparing the carrying value of the asset to the asset’s estimated fair value and recognize an impairment charge when the asset’s carrying value exceeds its estimated fair value. The adjusted carrying amount of the asset becomes its new cost basis and is depreciated over the asset’s remaining useful life.
Long-lived assets are grouped with other assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. For company-operated store assets, the impairment test is performed at the individual store asset group level, which is inclusive of property, plant and equipment and lease ROU assets. The fair value of a store’s assets is estimated using a discounted cash flow model. For other long-lived assets, fair value is determined using an approach that is appropriate based on the relevant facts and circumstances, which may include discounted cash flows, comparable transactions, or comparable company analyses.
Our impairment calculations contain uncertainties because they require management to make assumptions and to apply judgment to estimate future cash flows and asset fair values. Key assumptions used in estimating future cash flows and asset fair values include projected revenue growth and operating expenses, as well as forecasting asset useful lives and selecting an appropriate discount rate. For company-operated stores, estimates of revenue growth and operating expenses are based on internal projections and consider the store’s historical performance, the local market economics, and the business environment impacting the store’s performance. The discount rate is selected based on what we believe a buyer would assume when determining a purchase price for the store. The fair value of a store’s ROU asset is estimated considering what a market participant would pay to lease the asset for its highest and best use. These estimates are subjective and our ability to realize future cash flows and asset fair values is affected by factors such as ongoing maintenance and improvement of the assets, changes in economic conditions, and changes in operating performance.
In fiscal 2022, we announced our Reinvention Plan in the U.S. market to increase efficiency while elevating the partner and customer experience. As a result of the restructuring efforts in connection with the Reinvention Plan, we recorded immaterial impairment charges in our consolidated statements of earnings during the fiscal years ended October 1, 2023, and October 2, 2022. No restructuring and impairment costs attributable to the Reinvention Plan were recorded in our consolidated statements of earnings during the fiscal year ended September 29, 2024.Asset impairment charges are discussed in Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K.
Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets
We evaluate goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually during our third fiscal quarter, or more frequently if an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicate impairment may exist. When evaluating these assets for impairment, we may first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit is impaired. If we do not perform a qualitative assessment, or if we determine that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, we calculate the estimated fair value of the reporting unit using discounted cash flows or a combination of discounted cash flow and market approaches.When assessing goodwill for impairment, our decision to perform a qualitative impairment assessment for an individual reporting unit is influenced by a number of factors, inclusive of the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill, the significance of the excess of the reporting unit’s estimated fair value over carrying value at the last quantitative assessment date, and the amount of time in between quantitative fair value assessments and the date of acquisition. If we perform a quantitative assessment of an individual reporting unit’s goodwill, our impairment calculations contain uncertainties because they require management to make assumptions and to apply judgment when estimating future cash flows and asset fair values, including projected revenue growth and operating expenses related to existing businesses, product innovation, and new store concepts, as well as utilizing valuation multiples of similar publicly traded companies and selecting an appropriate discount rate. Estimates of revenue growth and operating expenses are based on internal projections considering the reporting unit’s past performance and forecasted growth, strategic initiatives, local market economics, and the local business environment impacting the reporting unit’s performance. The discount rate is selected based on the estimated cost of capital for a market participant to operate the reporting unit in the region. These estimates, as well as the selection of comparable companies and valuation multiples used in the market approaches, are highly subjective, and our ability to realize the future cash flows used in our fair value calculations is affected by factors such as the success of strategic initiatives, changes in economic conditions, changes in our operating performance, and changes in our business strategies, including retail initiatives and international expansion. We continue to believe the fair value of each of our reporting units is significantly in excess of its carrying value, and absent a sustained multi-year global decline in our business in key markets such as the U.S. and China, we do not anticipate incurring significant
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goodwill impairment in the next 12 months. Our fiscal 2024 annual goodwill impairment testing was completed in the third fiscal quarter. Where a quantitative assessment was performed, the estimated fair value of our reporting units exceeded carrying value by approximately $124 billion.
When assessing indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment, where we perform a qualitative assessment, we evaluate if changes in events or circumstances have occurred that indicate that impairment may exist. If we do not perform a qualitative impairment assessment or if changes in events and circumstances indicate that a quantitative assessment should be performed, management is required to calculate the fair value of the intangible asset group. The fair value calculation includes estimates of revenue growth, which are based on past performance and internal projections for the intangible asset group’s forecasted growth and royalty rates, which are adjusted for our particular facts and circumstances. The discount rate is selected based on the estimated cost of capital that reflects the risk profile of the related business. These estimates are highly subjective, and our ability to achieve the forecasted cash flows used in our fair value calculations is affected by factors such as the success of strategic initiatives, changes in economic conditions, changes in our operating performance, and changes in our business strategies, including retail initiatives and international expansion. We do not anticipate recording significant impairment charges in the next 12 months.Definite-lived intangible asset impairment charges are discussed in Note 8 , Other Intangible Assets and Goodwill, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K.
RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
See Note 1 , Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Estimates, to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this 10-K for a detailed description of recent accounting pronouncements.