With operating profit down 45%, the “Back to Starbucks” plans aren’t bearing any fruit yet

Brian Niccol has a tough gig on his hands, with Starbucks shares dropping sharply after a weak quarter.

4/30/25 9:34AM

Starbucks is promising a four-minute wait time for customers to get their grande latte, but investors might have to wait longer for the coffee giant to deliver the results they were hoping for when Brian Niccol took the top job at Starbucks in September.

The world’s largest coffee chain posted a 45% decline in quarterly operating income yesterday, its fifth straight quarter of declining same-store sales, with SBUX shares opening down 10% in premarket trading this morning.

Since being poached in September for his star-studded track record at Chipotle, CEO Brian Niccol has been brewing a bold turnaround strategy to reverse Starbucks’ yearlong sales slump. So far, that “Back to Starbucks” plan has involved writing names on to-go cups, bringing back ceramic mugs, and requiring a purchase for customers to loiter in stores.

But the investment is coming at a cost: while Niccol touted some “real momentum” with his magnum opus on Tuesday, Starbucks also said the additional labor poured to support the plan is grinding down on the coffee giant’s profitability — an expense that the chain is seemingly willing to double down on, with plans to hire even more baristas.

Double shot

Starbucks’ slumping profitability, down to become the worst non-Covid quarter in more than a decade, is another bitter shot of disappointment for the already struggling coffee chain, which has been juggling weak consumer spending and skyrocketing costs of coffee beans (thanks to a certain Diet Coke enthusiast) domestically while being squeezed out by strong competitors in China — a region that had been the Starbucks growth engine for much of the last two decades.

Max Knoblauch16h

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones22h

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.