Howard Schultz says Starbucks may have already hit bottom

Howard Schultz says coffee chain has seen slight improvement in October. Also, Starbucks announces partnership with Red organization to eliminate AIDS in Africa.

By Melissa Allison

Seattle Times business reporter

Starbucks' business may have bottomed in the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, chief executive Howard Schultz told reporters during the company's leadership conference in New Orleans, Reuters reported today.

"The downturn continued in the fourth quarter, and we did see a slight improvement in the first weeks of Q1 ... which might suggest that Starbucks may have hit bottom in terms of negative transactions in our fourth quarter," Schultz said.

Compared to other companies, he said, Starbucks appears to have been early to respond to the new economic realities. Earlier this year, it cut 1,000 support jobs and announced the closure of 600 underperforming U.S. stores and 61 stores in Australia.

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