we thought that howard schultz was one of those that would do that.be it was so disappointing to him that he felt he had to step in, but brian niccol has the track record that will at least command respect in the space. that's where the former ceo did not. we talked to some insiders who said he did not understand restaurant retailing and the culture of the company. i don't think brian niccol is going to make that mistake. if he puts results on the board quickly, i think that will solve kind of the angst that we have heard coming out of howard schultz. let's hope. >> gabe, what would you add to that? >> certainly, and also howard schulz is no longer in a leadership position with the company. he didn't like this decision, i imagine we would have heard about it. but he trained the ceo for six months and this didn't work out. i agree with what was said about brian niccol's track and respect in the industry. star bucks is a premium brand that also needs to maintain its competitive nature in this environment with consumers. if you are going to discount, it

elliott and starboard have taken stakes in the company and earlier this year, howard schultz penned a scathing open letter calling on the company to fix the open stores. let's bring in kate rogers with some of the reaction to today's news. a lot of analyst upgrades today, kate. >> certainly. busy day, melissa. the starbucks chair said it this morning that nichol is the right leader for this moment, and clearly wall street agrees. analysts pouring in, mostly positive sentiment. td writing, in our view, starbucks picks up a hall of fame restaurant ceo and his appointment as starbucks ceo and chairman suggests a new era is under way. btig saying, we believe this is a significant victory for starbucks, and evercore isi writing, brian is likely the one restaurant executive that has the gravitas to address the howard schultz founder overhang. howard schultz with a statement in the company's release this morning, saying, quote, he has my suspect and full support. elliott, the activist inves or the, also saying it welcomes the appointment, and starboard out with a similar vote of confidence.

howard schultz is a genius.dy, as he's done to orin smith and jim donald and kevin johnson just did to the last man, is having somebody who takes their complaints public into either tweets or linkedin messaging is really not helpful. so he's got to get howard on the same page with him. and it's a great board. but, some of the governance is coming from outside and surprisingly not the activists who i was all set to complain about. they had nothing to do with this other than raise legitimate issues. >> jeff, as always, thank you very much for your insights. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we'll see what happens to chipotle now. >> leaves a big hole at chipotle they have to fill. it's a tough one. >> indeed. >>> still to come, two power players starting with new jersey governor phil murphy weighing in on the upcoming election. all this when "power lch tus.un" stay with us. this is our future, ma. godaddy airo. creates a logo, website, even social posts... in minutes! -how? -a.i. (impressed) ay i like it! who wan

howard schultz still exerting influence even if from sidelines?. the previous ceo started march of last year and if you just think about that, he maybe has a year to go. i think people will be looking cagily what he does this fall and how quickly he can kurn thturn things around. genius to get this guy. a really successful ceo, turned around chipotle, taco bell before that. i think he's the kind of guy who actually could get something done. the question is what will he do and how will he do it and will howard schultz stay on the sidelines, leave him alone and let him do his job. >> a tangible problem able to tackle, the food-borne illness issue and able to nation. not saying that's the only reason he succeeded, but in the begins had a big win. sort of set the stage for the rest of his ceo tenure. i'm wondering because starbucks is one that sort of a lot of industries, you know, whether it be nike or estee lauder. we had a retail analyst discussing this, a multinatural company running up against china and had dominant market share. a more amorphous

the real activist has been howard schultz.hat they engaged in the company. they've been telling with mellody hobson and their style in activism certainly was talking about operation moves like this. but i think at starbucks at least was howard schultz from the beginning. >> what about southwest airlines right now? that's the next chapter developing. how much success could elliot have on that front? >> you never underestimate elliott. they have tons of resources. they should definitely get board seats. the company's been severely underperforming. elliot has a very good point that the board and management needs more external airline experience, and i don't think 10 out of 15 is in the cards for them. i don't think they'll get a majority. but they should get a handful of board seats, and if they do go to a special meeting for this, it's because they know other shareholders feel the way they do. they would be going into this alone or without knowledge that they have a good chance of winning something. >> so this is the new develop

what i would point out howard schultz really wanted this. david faber, i think that is participate of the narrative. more than elliott. >> yeah. listen, mr. schultz, of course, continues to be a force within starbucks, really only as what is a technically a large shareholder. of course he's not on the board. he has no management role and was an important figure here. in part it seems, if i could say turning on laxman or at least not giving him continued support some time back, which obviously put his job, it would seem, and clearly was, in some jeopardy. moving forward and perhaps helping, the board -- my understanding with the brian niccol thing they reached out some time back. they really didn't think they had a shot at getting him. as mellody hobson indicated, things happened pretty quickly. there had been some conversation about it, but my understanding is they thought, well, what shot do we have? >> brian is the best. howard said this is a great day for starbucks. no one better to rejuvenate the company and the starbucks' brand than him

you know, it starts off with howard schultz publicly criticizing the ceo, and then elliott comes in and a couple of months are engaging with a larger position, talking with the board with similar concerns as howard schultz, and tr trian, the board acted quickly and decisively they brought in a rock star ceo that did great for the stock, and i actually think that mellody hobson deserves a lot of credit here for not only doing something so quick and so decisive, but also giving up her role as chair to get the deal done, you know, in a world of activism where a lot of time egoand job security is what's paramount, you have someone acting a little pit bit selfless for the benefit of the shareholders. >> in all of the different hands they've been able to play at the same times remarkable in and of itself, here we have southwest is sort of the next one. and a company that i wonder how you view that in terms of being ripe -- >> it's a little tricky in the sense that actually selling it seems like it's a little bit off the table. it's not really who are you going to sell an airline to that's bee

so for two months they figured out, okay, nichol's going to be our guy, and then they brought howard schultzd, fine, go with brian nichol. brian nichol fixed taco bell, he fixed chipotle, and starbucks' gain is chipotle's loss, but what are the issues at star bucks? the price! it's so expensive. they have got new drinks right and left. heavy got the younger consumer. they've got all sorts of ways you can shorten and order. what's the problem? the price. stuart: all right. david? >> yeah, we took a big position in starbucks a few months agoing, and i'll be the first to say we obviously got lucky here. we were not anticipating the ceo change. but there's more than just price. that's the main issue. pricing power becomes limit limited. their operational efficiencies are a struggle, and this new ceo, let's be honest, he didn't get along with howard schultz, the founder. and when you bring in a ceo to the run someone else's company, you better get along9 with the guy you replaced. so they got rid of him. chipotle, obviously, has one of the best run companies of its time in the -- type in the worl

andrew: howard schultz, will be looking over his shoulder maybe second-guessing him i think some of thewith the try to fix and not been able to do it it seems like everybody has a solution to starbucks problem statement this is not a young company they've had grown-up corporation for years they tried without post other fancy software systems figuring out wait times c5 well he actually could be good news. jack: this a restaurant guys had success doing different things and started a taco bell think was a guy who would during a talk with everybody thought it turned into talk about but he did a double down on what worked for them and fix the problems i think the hope is that he'll be able to go with to starbucks diagnose the problems there and we did of the people that have not been able to do guest he was he was don't think he to read adjusted anything there that, the stock drop in percent in the nicholas of you starbucks, he gained 5 percent when you think you do with those stocks. >> i think was starbucks, i am confident that you going to like were starbucks is in here for the stock some

. >> i want to read from howard schultz, starbucks' founder. the chairman emeritus.tr transformational journey at chipotle, i have long admired him and recognized the critical human element it takes to lead a culture and values-driven enterprise, and i'm underlining those words, because if you think about the criticism that howard schultz has levelled a this the management, i believe he is the leader that starbucks needs at a pivotal moment in its history. he has my respect and full support. he goes on to respect melody and the starbucks board. one of the big questions now is going to be what the activist investors, eliot and starboard, who have taken positions, think of this. are they going to still pursue trying to get seats on that board? what kind of other pressure points are they going to push? or are they going to say, you know what, these are the operational decisions and moves t that have to be made. we have said, this is the kind of company that would struggle. there's not a financial engineering program that you can put into place. some people have talked a

behind the scenes, many are blaming founder and former ceo howard schultz for lording over his successor. i think howard had more pulled by the lack of contrition then by the current's execution which he did not like but if you are blaming schultz for firing buxman, maybe you should thank him. because he just created $20 billion in value when we learned that the post the blanche ceo from aaa. i would like to take credit for that, we all take credit for the brick if we are looking for what can be saved you need a big change of this topic. starbucks is going to become the model. now let's talk about love. not love, southwest airlines. we saw the potential directors from the activist investor elliott, they want to bring in these tend to replace 10 on the board. everything would change if they do that. every one of elliott's nominees excels in the fields of southwest means technology, revenue magnets, safety, government. on the other hand if left to its own devices i bet southwest would keep it lower. there still time for the board to accept their lack of diligence and move on with their hea

the former see wrote has stepped down after former starbucks' chief howard schultz wrote an open letter direction. mcnichols set to take over september 99th. joining us now is retail an a list stacy -- stacy, nichol knocked the skin off the avocado at chipotle. i was trying to say knocked the cover off the ball, but the, stock went to the moon during his tenure. what makes him a good fit though for starbucks? >> so you're getting, basically, the simone biles of restaurant leadership here. and this is, this is a leader who took chipotle from the e. coli scandal to one of the most efficiently and digitally and premium-run restaurants out there. he's the one that the reinvigorated the menu, right? he's the one that led in terms of digital and efficiency. he also is customer driven. and what starbucks needs right now, you walk in there and you stand there for 15, 20 minutes waiting for a cup of coffee that's $6, and there's nothing more infuriating. you also see the digital customers come in and jump you because they order before. so there needs to be a whole new process in order here, and

howard schultz spent 25 years -- >> if that moment is over, how much opportunity is there really?ion. >> i don't know the answer. >> it's a tough one. let's take a closer look at the markets. j.j. kin han is here, j.j., how would you fix starbucks? >> it's interesting, i just saw a podcast with howard schultz and he said kind of what andrew said, what made them great is the experience, and he's trying to figure ways to bring that back. that's what they've lost. now to the point i think you were making there, andrew, they are just another transaction, and he used the word community. he said we built our business around community, and the community is what's lacking right now, and if you look, you know, they're one of the companies that just came out and said they are afraid for the consumer, and if the consumer doesn't feel that sense of community, i think they do have some tough times coming up. and hey, maybe my retirement plan, andrew, will be being a greeter at starbucks. >> i'll see you there, i always wanted to be a walmart greeter. >> they've also priced everybody out of the