Summary Niccol's offer letter reveals significant salary and benefits, including the ability to work a hybrid schedule and fly on Starbucks-owned jets. Despite living in Newport Beach, Niccol will commute over 1,000 miles to Seattle at least three days a week using company aircraft. Environmentalists are concerned about the high CO2 emissions and financial costs associated with Niccol's extensive commute.
Starbucks recently hired a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Brian Niccol. However, Niccol is based in Newport Beach, California , as he was previously the CEO of Chipotle and that is where Chipotle is headquartered. However, one of the benefits from his recently disclosed offer letter was that Niccol was not required to relocate to Seattle , Washington, where the headquarters of Starbucks is located, and he could instead continue residing in Newport Beach.
This means that Niccol will most likely commute to Seattle from Newport Beach several times a week, as stated in his contract. Starbucks owns four Gulfstream G550s as corporate jets. Features of Niccol's offer letter Starbucks filed its offer letter for Niccol with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late last week.
This filing included Niccol's base salary, which is approximately $1.6 million. It also mentioned an annual cash bonus that ranges from $3.
6 million to $7.2 million, and the ability to cash in on annual equity awards that can total up to $23 million. One characteristic of the filed offer letter was Niccol's unique working arrangement.
Starbucks stated that Niccol would be able to work a hybrid schedule. This means, according to the Starbucks company work policy, that Niccol is required to be in the office at least three days per week. For the other two days, Niccol has the ability to work from his home office.
However, the offer letter also stated that Niccol could remain located in Newport Beach. This means Niccol's commute for at least three days per week could reach over 1,000 miles, the distance from Newport Beach to Seattle. The offer letter also states that Niccol will be eligible to utilize the company-owned private jet for business-related travel, travel between his residence and the Starbucks headquarters, and additional personal travel up to $250,000 per year.
Environmental effects of this commute To complete this commute, Niccol will most likely fly on one of the Starbucks-owned corporate jets . Starbucks owns two Gulfstream G550s for transporting executives around the world. These aircraft are registered as N721L and N721V.
N721L was originally built in 2007 and N721V was built in 2013, according to JetSpy . However, this 1,000-mile commute has been scrutinized by many environmentalists. AtoZ Markets , a financial news website, took a closer look at the environmental effects this commute may incur.
The company calculated the total flight hours that Niccol is estimated to fly to make his commute from Newport Beach and Seattle. AtoZ Markets then estimated the CO2 emissions based on industry-standard figures for most private jets. Per the financial news website's findings, this commute may reach over 700,000 kilograms (772 tons) of CO2 emissions annually.
Per AtoZ Markets, this is the equivalent of the annual carbon output of 154 cars. AtoZ Markets also found the potential financial costs that this commute may incur, based on typical operating costs for a medium-sized private jet. AtoZ Markets estimates that this could cost Starbucks between $3.
9 million and $7.8 million per year, depending on several variables..
