Starbucks CEO Earns Record $31 Million, Leaving Workers in His Wake
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol earned $31 million in 2025, more than any other fast-food or fast-casual restaurant boss in the United States. This is around $10 million more than McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski and $26 million more than Wendy's chief exec Bob Wright.
Niccol, a 52-year-old University of Chicago MBA grad who's been in the restaurant industry for 21 years, also earned $96 million for just four months with the company in 2024 after exiting as Chipotle CEO to lead the coffee chain. This was largely due to forfeiting the value of Chipotle shares he held.
The pay disparity between Niccol and a unionized Starbucks worker is stark: 1,794 times more than the typical worker's salary. In his first year at Starbucks, his $96 million compensation package was 6,666 times the median worker’s pay. This has drawn criticism from Senator Bernie Sanders, who lambasted Starbucks for refusing to give its workers a decent raise.
Some business experts argue that CEOs of multinational corporations deserve these staggering annual salaries because the company's success lives and dies with the person in charge.