Howard Schultz Net Worth: Former Starbucks CEO Preparing Run For President

Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Sunday he loved his country and that he was “seriously considering” running for president as a "centrist independent.”

"I am seriously thinking of running for president. I will run as a centrist independent, outside of the two-party system. We're living at a most fragile time, not only the fact that this president is not qualified to be the president, but the fact that both parties are consistently not doing what's necessary on behalf of the American people and are engaged, every single day, in revenge politics,” the 65-year-old told Scott Pelley on "60 Minutes".

Describing himself as a "lifelong Democrat," Schultz said his decision to run as an independent candidate instead of seeking Democratic Party's nomination was because he believed both parties have not addressed the country's growing debt.

"I look at both parties. We see extremes on both sides. Well, we are sitting today with approximately $21.5 trillion of debt, which is a reckless example, not only of Republicans, but of Democrats, as well, as a reckless failure of their constitutional responsibility," he said.

"I want to see the American people win. I want to see America win. I don't care if you're a Democrat, independent, libertarian, Republican. Bring me your ideas. And I will be an independent person who will embrace those ideas. Because I am not, in any way, in bed with a party,” he added.

Schultz took charge of Starbucks in the 1980s and expanded the company to over 28,000 outlets worldwide before stepping down as its CEO in June 2018. According to Forbes, his net worth as of January 2018 was $3.4 billion, a sum accumulated through his decades of service as the CEO of Starbucks. In 2016, Bloomberg reported his salary to be $21.8 million. CNBC said he owned “37.8 million shares of Starbucks, or a 3 percent stake, worth about $2.17 billion."

In another interview on Sunday with the New York Times, Schultz said before deciding whether to run for the president, he would travel across the United States as part of a book tour. He also added that despite having wealth, he could face other challenges just like a few independent candidates who "mounted successful challenges for the White House."

“We have a broken political system with both parties basically in business to preserve their own ideology without a recognition and responsibility to represent the interests of the American people. Republicans and Democrats alike — who no longer see themselves as part of the far extreme of the far right and the far left — are looking for a home. The word ‘independent,’ for me, is simply a designation on the ballot,” Schultz said in the interview.

Apart from serving as the CEO of Starbucks, Schultz along with his wife, Sheri, founded the Schultz Family Foundation, which provides training to post-9/11 veterans and their families to help them successfully transition back to civilian life.