Starbucks founder Howard Schultz says he and his wife are leaving their home in the blue city of Seattle, Washington, and are relocating to Florida. The announcement came after the Washington state House passed a millionaires tax, as well as the coffee giant opening a new corporate office in Nashville, Tennessee.
“For those of you who know us well, we have entered the ‘retirement’ phase of our lives,” Howard Schultz and his wife, Sheri, wrote in a Tuesday LinkedIn post.
“Last year we traveled to dozens of places around the world — places we were too busy to see when building Starbucks and raising kids. And we have moved to Miami for our next adventure together,” the couple added.
The 72-year-old businessman and his wife went on to say, “We are enjoying the sunshine of South Florida and its allure to our kids on the East Coast as they raise families of their own.”
“It is our hope that Washington will remain a place for business and entrepreneurship to thrive, creating essential opportunity for those in Seattle and the surrounding areas,” they continued.
“Over the years, as Sheri and I grew our family and built Starbucks globally, we were witness to the astonishing development of Seattle. We focused on doing our part to help those at risk and facing hard times in our city,” the announcement read.
The LinkedIn post explained, “In 1990, Sheri started the Schultz Family Foundation, launching critical work to help others in our community and beyond — work that has grown in scale and impact with each passing year.”
“We have entrusted the leadership of the Foundation to our dear friend Vivek Varma with a mandate to accelerate our philanthropic investments to drive meaningful change,” they said.
“While our private family office will move to Miami, our Foundation will continue operations in Seattle,” the couple added.
The billionaire concluded the statement, writing, “We will be forever grateful for the memories made in Seattle and the relationships built along the way. To the family, friends and partners who made Seattle our home for so many years, thank you. Onward.”
Schultz, who has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, announced his retirement plans as the Washington state House passed its so-called “Millionaires Tax” on Tuesday, affecting people making more than $1 million annually.
Their new home in Florida, meanwhile, is located in one of nine states that do not have a state personal income tax.
Notably, the Starbucks founder also refrained from mentioning that the coffee giant has already begun shifting its corporate operations to Tennessee.
Moreover, Tennessee is also one of the nine states that does not impose a personal income tax. The red state offers a more competitive corporate tax structure than the blue state of Washington.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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