Starbucks corp.
SBUX 1.58%
named Laxman Narasimhan as its new CEO, months after former head Howard Schultz temporarily took over the management of the coffee giant through rising costs, challenges in the Chinese market and pressure to unionize.
Mr Narasimhan, 55, on Thursday announced that he would retire from
PLC on September 30. For the past three years, Mr. Narasimhan has been chief executive of U.K.-based Reckitt, maker of Lysol and Enfamil baby formula, and The Wall Street Journal reported that he was in recent talks to take a senior role at the U.S. company .
Prior to leading Reckitt, Mr. Narasimhan held various executive positions in
PepsiCo Inc.
Starbucks and PepsiCo have a long-standing relationship through the ready-to-drink coffee chain, including a deal struck when Mr. Narasimhan was CEO of PepsiCo Latin America.
In March, Starbucks said then-CEO Kevin Johnson, who led the company for five years, he was going to retire and Mr. Schultz, who built the Seattle-based coffee chain into a global brand, will take over on an interim basis starting in April. Mr Schultz has since said the company has made mistakes in recent years and needs to change, from the way baristas are paid to the blenders in its cafes.
Write to Heather Haddon c heather.haddon@wsj.com and Emily Glazer c emily.glazer@wsj.com
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