Risks

Economic conditions in the U.S. and international markets could adversely affect our business and financial results.

Our success depends substantially on the value of our brands and failure to preserve their value, either through our actions or those of our business partners, could have a negative impact on our financial results.

Incidents involving food or beverage-borne illnesses, tampering, adulteration, contamination or mislabeling, whether or not accurate, as well as adverse public or medical opinions about the health effects of consuming our products, could harm our business.

The unauthorized access, use, theft or destruction of customer or employee personal, financial or other data or of Starbucks proprietary or confidential information that is stored in our information systems or by third parties on our behalf could impact our reputation and brand and expose us to potential liability and loss of revenues.

We rely heavily on information technology in our operations and growth initiatives, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of that technology could harm our ability to effectively operate and grow our business and could adversely affect our financial results.

We may not be successful in implementing important strategic initiatives or effectively managing growth, which may have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.

We face intense competition in each of our channels and markets, which could lead to reduced profitability.

We are highly dependent on the financial performance of our Americas operating segment.

We are increasingly dependent on the success of certain international markets in order to achieve our growth targets.

Increases in the cost of high-quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities or decreases in the availability of high quality arabica coffee beans or other commodities could have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.

Our financial condition and results of operations are sensitive to, and may be adversely affected by, a number of factors, many of which are largely outside our control.

Interruption of our supply chain could affect our ability to produce or deliver our products and could negatively impact our business and profitability.

Failure to meet market expectations for our financial performance and fluctuations in the stock market as a whole will likely adversely affect the market price and volatility of our stock.

The loss of key personnel or difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified personnel could adversely impact our business and financial results.

Failure to comply with applicable laws and changing legal and regulatory requirements could harm our business and financial results.