Starbucks will close 300 more stores

[link to www.cnbc.com]

1/28/09

Starbucks Profit Tumbles, Misses Estimates

Starbucks reported a profit that was almost halved compared with last year's earnings and came up shy of the Street's expectations.

The company also said it will close 300 more outlets and slash nearly 7,000 jobs.

Starbucks, struggling to get ahead of its weakening U.S. business by cutting costs, plans to shut an additional 300 stores globally in fiscal 2009, on top of a previously announced 600 store closures in the United States, Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in a letter to employees.

It is hoped that the cost-cutting moves will save Starbucks $500 million in fiscal 2009.

The company said it earned 15 cents a share in its fiscal first quarter, against earnings of 28 cents a share in the same quarter last year.