Starbucks probably would not be what it is today without William H. Gates Sr., a lawyer and father of the Bill Gates who co-founded Microsoft. The attorney was instrumental in helping former CEO Howard Schultz buy the coffee company in 1987.
Schultz first joined Starbucks in 1982, a year after he stepped foot in the original store in Seattle. "I met the founders and over the course of a year, I persuaded them to hire me," he tells Guy Raz on an episode of NPR's podcast, "How I Built This."
After a business trip to Milan inspired Schultz to bring the Italian coffeehouse tradition to the U.S., he left Starbucks in 1983 to start his own company, Il Giornale coffeehouses.
Then, in 1987, the founder of Starbucks, Jerry Baldwin, looked to sell the six-store company for $3.8 million. Schultz was the first person to come to mind and Baldwin offered him a 90-day exclusive to raise the money.
profile_this on September 26th, 2018 at 21:23 UTC »
And for every nice guy move like this, there are thousands of kiddies with hydraulic-pressed dreams.
Suicidalparrot on September 26th, 2018 at 21:04 UTC »
TIL Bill Gates Senior is a beast
writersblockchain on September 26th, 2018 at 18:09 UTC »
Even crazier: Bill Gates’ dad was a big player in the Seattle business community and was partner at an influential law firm and now we refer to him as Bill Gates’ dad.