Starbucks Investors Approve Pay Package That Drops DEI Reference

  • Coffee chain to set aside more pay for financial performance
  • Conservative groups are challenging the legality of DEI goals

A Starbucks coffee shop in New York.

Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

Starbucks Corp. shareholders approved a plan to drop a bonus tied to DEI goals for its executives and replace it with a more general workforce target while also shifting more compensation to financial performance.

The new structure, approved at an annual meeting on March 13, nixes a specific goal from the 2023 compensation package that tied 7.5% of executives’ bonuses to an undisclosed goal related to diversity, equity and inclusion.