When three twentysomething graduates named their new Seattle coffee venture after Starbuck, the steadfast first mate in Moby Dick, they could hardly have guessed that its future boss would gain notoriety for an epic voyage of his own — to the office.
Starbucks revealed this week that its new chief executive would not only be commuting the 1,000 miles from his home in Newport, California, to the company’s headquarters in Seattle, but he would be doing so by private jet.
When Brian Niccol, 50, joins next month he will not have to relocate to the state of Washington, where 4,000 Starbucks staff are based, but will instead be allowed to join the millions of Americans now enjoying “work from home” privileges.
Niccol will fly by private jet from his home in Newport Beach, above, to Starbucks’ main office in Seattle
SIMON KR/GETTY IMAGES
The commute seemed