On the last afternoon of April this year, Starbucks chief executive Laxman Narasimhan joined a conference call for analysts who follow the $36bn-a-year coffee chain and got straight to the bad news.
The latest quarter’s figures were “disappointing”, he admitted upfront, as he revealed the group’s first drop in same-store sales for three years and slashed its guidance for revenue growth. But, he insisted, he and his team had “a clear plan to execute” and remained confident of delivering on the brand’s “limitless potential”.
Wall Street’s reaction was severe, sending Starbucks shares plunging almost 16 per cent the next day. Unknown to Narasimhan, the earnings shock was also reverberating through a group of directors and investors, whose behind-the-scenes manoeuvres over the next 15 weeks would cost him his job.