Starbucks cuts about 180 office jobs in London and Hong Kong
Why it matters: The coffee chain is shifting more control outside North America to licensees as it pushes to double its international store count.
Starbucks cut corporate jobs in London and Hong Kong as it reshapes how it runs its business outside North America. The company eliminated about 120 positions in London, its Europe, Middle East and Africa hub, and roughly 60 jobs in Hong Kong, which oversees Asia-Pacific markets outside China and Japan. The move is part of a broader restructuring aimed at lowering costs and stripping out overlapping management layers. Starbucks is also giving third-party licensees more authority over international stores, freeing resources for company-operated locations concentrated in the US. The company has said it wants to double its international store count to about 40,000, mainly through partners.