Wow, I Earn 6,666 Times More Than You!

Imagine it: a hundred days into a new job and your total compensation for the year is set to hit $98 million. Not a lottery win, not selling a company, not even a once-in-a-lifetime bonus — just your first year’s pay, stacked with salary, incentives, and stock. What would you do?

I have a vivid imagination, but this piece of news from the specialty coffee world pushed it to its limits.

$98 million? Honestly? I don’t know.

Maybe I’d be sipping an Aperol Spritz on my yacht, moored at Monaco’s Port Hercule.

Or I’d buy myself a VIP box at Real Madrid’s stadium.

More likely, I’d secure financing for countless cooperatives growing The Better Coffee.

I’d even hire photographers so I’d finally have a decent photo for this column.

And, in the end, I’d probably found my own The Place Coffee People’s Universities, where money is irrelevant, and take early retirement from Red Ink Coffee — but only after earning a few more paychecks of this magnitude, you know?

It’s much easier for me to imagine life with earnings 6,666 times lower.

Life on $14,674 a year — the average part-time Starbucks barista salary. You probably can too.

Numbers like these are close enough to touch — in some places, far too small to live with dignity, in others, already more than enough.

Why am I writing about $98 million?

Because that’s what the new Starbucks CEO earned last year.

Brian Niccol, 51, an experienced executive.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Ohio and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

He built his career at Pizza Hut (since 2007), pioneering mobile pizza ordering. He became director and later CEO at Taco Bell (2011–2018), then took the helm at Chipotle Mexican Grill (2018–2024), doubling its business. Along the way, he’s served on corporate boards — Walmart Inc. (since 2024), Harley-Davidson (until 2021).

No irony here — his record is impressive. His decisions have boosted both company valuations and, in some cases, employee pay.

In August 2024, Niccol replaced Laxman Narasimhan as Starbucks CEO — his first role in a company deeply tied to the coffee market.

He came in swinging, announcing the Back to Starbucks strategy — a revitalization playbook returning to what made Starbucks iconic: coffeehouse soul, hospitality, connection. That meant phasing out grab-and-go formats, simplifying menus, reviving the joy of time spent in cafés — updated seating, ceramic mugs, handwritten names with barista smiley faces, “to bring back warmth.”

One thing we share without question: a taste for black coffee, his preference an Americano. And yes, we’re both in the coffee — though I’ve been here ten years longer.

One thing we don’t share (yet? xD): the paycheck.

Let’s break down his staggering compensation.

According to the “Starbucks 2025 Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Proxy Statement,” Niccol earned $1.6 million in base salary for just four months of 2024 — standard market rate.On top of that: an Annual Incentive Bonus (225–450% of base pay), incentives of up to $23 million, and equity grants of “no less” than $75 million (capped at $80 million). 

That last bit? A make-good for income lost when leaving his previous role — in football terms, a signing bonus for joining a new club.

Plus perks like private jet flights from his home 1,000 miles away, carbon footprint unbothered.

All told, Niccol made $97,813,843 at Starbucks in 2024.

These numbers make your head spin.

With that kind of money, you could buy almost 14,000 tonnes of coffee at C-Market prices — roughly the annual export of Cameroon, Rwanda, Thailand, or Jamaica. Or about 33,000 EK43 grinders. Translate it into plastic V60s or Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brews if you like.

Even then, nobody would drink that much Iced Horchata Oatmilk Shaken Espresso.

So yes — you could do something good with that kind of money. I have a million ideas.

And I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t slip Mr. Niccol a suggestion: what if Starbucks made Pay-It-Forward part of its Back to Starbucks revival? Not a charity jar, but a standing structure — customer-powered, company-matched, and woven into the everyday transaction. The warmth you want to bring back in the café could flow upstream to coffee growers, trainers, and whole communities.

Imagine the stories: a customer in Chicago buys an Americano, scans a code, and sees how their contribution helped open a coffee lab in Rwanda or fund a The Place Coffee People’s University in Guatemala. It fits the mission line you already recite — to inspire and nurture the human spirit — but now the inspiration travels both ways, from the barista’s smile to the farmer’s field.

Sure, there’s the profit motive.

But in terms of declared values, we probably have more in common than it seems, right?

Imagine — every Starbucks café as The Place Bars.

And to make it happen, Mr. Niccol wouldn’t even have to reach into his own pocket.