Starbucks's ex-CEO Howard Schultz says Steve Jobs ‘screamed in his face’: 'Fire all those people'

The former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said the incident with Apple founder and then CEO Steve Jobs had happened in 2008. (Image credit: Reuters)

Starbucks's former CEO Howard Schultz has recently shared that Steve Jobs had "screamed" in his face while trying to convince the coffee chain boss to fire his leadership team. The incident happened in 2008, Schultz said on the Acquired podcast.

Narrating the incident, he said, “There was a future meeting scheduled for Starbucks and Apple around mobile order and pay and other things. I met Steve on a phone call -- had never met him -- was talking to him on the phone and I’m telling him what’s going on.”

The Apple founder had invited Schultz and they took a walk around the campus courtyard to discuss the matter. Jobs was known for walking around the company office's courtyard, Fortune reported.

“[Jobs] had a whole thing about walking,” Schultz said on the podcast. “He would go out and would walk around the building. And so I went down there and basically we took a walk. I just told him all my problems -- everything that was going on. He just stopped me and said, ‘This is what you need to do.’ He looked and me and said, ‘You go back to Seattle and you fire everyone on your leadership team.’ I thought he was joking.”

Taken aback, Schultz reportedly said: “What are you talking about, ‘Fire everybody’? He said, ‘I just told you. F***king fire all those people.’ He was like screaming at me in my face: ‘Fire all those people, that’s what I would do.’ I said, ‘Steve, I can’t fire all these people. Who’s going to do the work?"

Jobs replied that he was certain the leadership team would be "gone" in six to nine months.

“He was right. Except for one, the general counsel, they were all gone," Schultz said.

When the two met again after the development, Jobs was quick to remind Schultz about the missed opportunity.

“I talked to him since then. We were on stage together at an event, and I told him, ‘They’re all gone.’ He said, ‘Well, you’re six months, nine months late. Think about all the things you could’ve done',” Schultz recollected.