Can Brian Niccol Save Starbucks?

It's not often that a personnel change can move a stock by double-digit percentages, but that's exactly what happened on Tuesday, when Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) CEO Brian Niccol said he was jumping ship for the top job at Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX). Chipotle stock was down 11% as of Tuesday morning, while Starbucks had jumped 21%. Altogether, Niccol's move represented close to a $30 billion swing in market cap.

Niccol is rightly regarded as something of a star in the restaurant industry, as he took the helm of Chipotle back in 2018, when the company was still reeling from the fallout from the E. coli crisis. Before that, he also had an impressive run as CEO of Yum! Brands' Taco Bell.

Now, Niccol faces a similar turnaround challenge as he takes over Starbucks, which has also languished under the leadership of outgoing CEO Laxman Narasimhan as comparable sales are falling and the company is struggling to fend off new competition in China -- a key growth market.

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Source Fool.com