“I know how excited [Schultz] is,” Starbucks board chair Mellody Hobson said during an interview with CNBC. “When I called him and told him what we were doing and what I have been working on and what the board had been pursuing, he said, ‘Mellody, that’s a home run.’”

Schultz’s seal of approval heralds what leadership hopes will be a new era that addresses challenges and drives future growth.

Niccol replaces Laxman Narasimhan. The transition comes after Elliott Management became one of Starbucks’ largest investors.

“We welcome the appointment of Brian Niccol, and we look forward to continuing our engagement with the board as it works toward the realization of Starbucks’ full potential,” the activist hedge fund, which has previously targeted major corporations for change, said in a statement.

Schultz was critical of Starbucks’ trajectory under Narasimhan, who relied on discounting and new products to revitalize the company after he became CEO in March 2023, CNBC reported. Starbucks struggled with declining sales over several quarters, including drops in China and softness in the U.S. market.

Industry analysts were positive in their assessment of Niccol’s appointment. In an interview with PYMNTS, Amanda Lai, a retail analyst and director for consultancy McMillan Doolittle, said it is “a logical choice to help revitalize the momentum behind the company and address the complex challenges facing the company as consumer preferences continue to evolve and competition continues to grow in the coffeehouse sector.”

Greg Zakowicz, senior eCommerce expert at Omnisend, told PYMNTS Niccol’s hire is promising.

“It’s surprising, but he may just be the perfect fit for the organization,” Zakowicz said. “He has an impressive background, especially in the food industry where products are nonessential items, and has successfully led companies like this during challenging economic times. With a continual increase of consumers trading down on items like groceries, I don’t think this should be understated. He knows how to appeal to consumers at times when their wallets are tight. That is one thing Starbucks desperately needs.”

Rachel Ruggeri will serve as Starbucks’ interim CEO until Niccol begins, Reuters reported. Niccol became CEO of Chipotle in 2018 and is credited with driving growth and innovation at the company. Chipotle’s stock has performed well, tripling over the last five years.

Scott Boatwright will step in as interim CEO following Niccol’s departure Aug. 31. Boatwright, who has been with Chipotle since 2017, has been instrumental in overseeing operations for more than 120,000 employees and over 3,500 stores, as well as integrating key technologies within the restaurants, according to a press release.

Niccol is no stranger to the QSR sector. During his tenure as CEO of Taco Bell from 2015 to 2018, Niccol implemented several strategies that improved the brand’s performance.

He introduced the Breakfast Menu, attracting new customers and enhancing the brand’s appeal, and the Doritos Locos Tacos, which drove an increase in sales. Niccol also spearheaded Taco Bell’s digital transformation by launching a user-friendly app that streamlined ordering and boosted customer engagement.

His focus on operational efficiency and cost management enhanced profitability and solidified Taco Bell’s position as a modern, innovative player in the fast-food industry. Additionally, his efforts to expand Taco Bell’s international footprint and accelerate store openings contributed to the chain’s global growth.

At Chipotle, Niccol led a turnaround from 2018 to 2024, nearly doubling the company’s revenue and achieving a stock surge of nearly 800%, Starbucks said in a press release.

Niccol introduced successful menu innovations and expanded digital capabilities, including online ordering, delivery services and the Chipotle Rewards program.

“Niccol’s previous experience at the helm of Chipotle will lend itself well to reinvigorating the Starbucks brand,” Lai said. “At Chipotle, Niccol’s focus on digital transformation, operational efficiency and customer engagement helped lead the fast-casual chain into a new phase of growth. Initiatives included re-envisioning its online ordering platform to grow digital sales, launching and growing Chipotle loyalty program to drive customer engagement, and simplifying the menu to improve in-store operations.”

She added that the Chipotle Rewards loyalty program “introduced personalized challenges and achievement rewards to gamify the experience and drive engagement with customers. He could similarly look to refresh the Starbucks Rewards program by emphasizing personalization and adding experiential elements to increase loyalty and drive retention.”

While Narasimhan’s tenure as CEO at Starbucks was marked by declining global sales, Niccol’s CEO trajectory at Taco Bell and Chipotle has ridden a wave of positive momentum.

During his tenure at Chipotle, Lai explained, Niccol created an environment centered on innovation and continuous improvement. His emphasis on learning and development empowered employees at all levels of the organization and drove improvements in operational excellence and service quality.

“This could translate well to bringing a new energy to Starbucks where morale has been challenged by multiple leadership changes and ongoing pressures from union campaigns over the years,” Lai said. “In the age of digital transformation, Starbucks needs a leader who can re-establish trust and loyalty among both its employees and customers while forging a path forward that positions the company as a digital-first leader in a crowded coffee landscape. With his experience driving digital initiatives, such as launching loyalty and expanding mobile ordering and delivery at Chipotle, Niccol is well-positioned to further refine and evolve Starbucks’ digital growth plans to help Starbucks navigate the evolving competitive landscape and drive sustainable growth.”

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Niccol will leave Chipotle effective Aug. 31, at which time Chipotle Chief Operating Officer Scott Boatwright will become the restaurant company’s interim CEO, according to a Tuesday press release from Chipotle.

Starbucks Chief Financial Officer Rachel Ruggeri will serve as interim CEO, and its board chair, Mellody Hobson, will become lead independent director, the coffee retailer said in a Tuesday press release.

Announcing these changes, Starbucks highlighted Niccol’s “focus on people and culture, brand, menu innovation, operational excellence and digital transformation.”

Since he become CEO of Chipotle in 2018, that company has nearly doubled its revenue, increased its profits nearly sevenfold, increased its stock price nearly 800%, and improved employees’ wages and benefits, according to the release.

Before joining Chipotle, Niccol served as chief marketing and innovation officer, president and CEO of Taco Bell; held leadership roles at Pizza Hut; and worked in brand management at Procter & Gamble, per the release.

He currently serves on the board of directors of Walmart.

“His phenomenal career speaks for itself,” Hobson said in the release. “Brian is a culture carrier who brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of driving innovation and growth.”

Niccol said in the release that he has long admired Starbucks’ brand, culture and “commitment to enhancing human connections.”

“As I embark upon this journey, I am energized by the tremendous potential to drive growth and further enhance the Starbucks experience for our customers and partners, while staying true to our mission and values,” Niccol said.

Narasimhan served as Starbucks’ CEO and as a member of its board of directors since March 2023, when he succeeded company founder and then-CEO Howard Schultz.

During his time in that role, Narasimhan improved the company’s partner experience, innovated its supply chain and enhanced its store operations, Starbucks said in the Tuesday press release.

“In the face of some challenging headwinds, Laxman has been laser focused on improving the business to meet the needs of our customers and partners,” Hobson said. “We all wish him the very best and know he will do great things in the future.”

This news comes about two weeks after Starbucks reported mixed financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended June 30. The firm’s global comparable store sales dipped 3%, driven by a 5% decrease in transactions despite a 2% rise in average ticket size.

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Anecdotal and quantitative evidence alike show the shift. For instance, videos have been going viral on social media showcasing the informal ways Gen Z workers have been signing off their emails, as Fast Company reported this week.

One such video with nearly 9 million views appears to show professional signoffs such as “bless up,” “mean regards” and “another day another slay,” while another with 873,000 views includes such signoffs as “stay litty” and “pop off.”

Gen Z’s Email Stress

Gen Z workers tend to have a more stressful relationship with their inboxes than previous generations, with a Babbel survey revealing that they are twice as likely as the population overall to have more than 1,000 unread emails and are disproportionately likely to have sent emails they regret.

Plus, a survey of 8,000 small business employees conducted by Slack (which has its own stake in the matter) noted that 57% of Gen Zers struggle with the expectation to keep things formal over email, a greater share than any other generation.

Furthermore, a study of more than 2,000 respondents from Barclays LifeSkills found that, in the United Kingdom, 71% of workers think young workers are impacting the formality of workplace language, and Gen Z workers are nearly twice as likely as those over 55 to use instant messaging platforms in the workplace.

Why Don’t You Come Over Here and Say That to My Face?

While young consumers have a reputation for being more digitally connected, research found that millennials and Gen Zers favor face-to-face communication, as a 2021 study from Universidad de Almería showed.

“Gen Y and Gen Z are said to be so immersed in the social media world that they cannot communicate well in face-to-face interactions,” the researchers observed. “However, the results showed that they liked to talk with people face-to-face…”

When they do communicate digitally, they like to integrate visual elements into the interaction.

“When they communicate online, they liked to use visuals to share their ideas…,” the study said. “In the same way, they would also like information to be shared with them visually rather in the form of text, characteristics of visual learners rather than verbal learners.”

How This Impacts Hiring

An iHire study of more than 1,000 18- to 27-year-olds and more than 250 employers found that 34% of Gen Z applicants believe negative stereotypes about their age group will negatively affect their job searches and career trajectories. Meanwhile, 58% of employers said Gen Z applicants must learn to improve their communication with hiring managers.

Generation Z is reshaping workplace communication by embracing a more casual and visually driven style, which contrasts with the formal norms of previous generations. The shift reflects not only their preference for authenticity and directness but also their comfort with digital platforms that allow for creative expression.

However, as they continue to navigate the professional world, the challenge remains in balancing this new approach with the expectations of more traditional workplace environments.

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Rohit Dhawan has been named Lloyds’ director of artificial intelligence (AI), overseeing the firm’s AI Center of Excellence and driving adoption of AI-powered products and services for the lender, per a Monday (Aug. 5) news release.

“Rohit’s appointment is a significant boost for the strategic development of AI technology and capabilities within Lloyds Banking Group, with his wealth of experience delivering technology and change, at pace and scale,” Ranil Boteju, the bank’s chief data and analytics officer, said in the release.

“Rohit will work across the business to further integrate AI outcomes into business priorities, helping us to scale AI in a consistent way and deliver against our strategy.”

In his time with Amazon Web Services, Dhawan served as the head of data and AI strategy for the Asia-Pacific region, leading projects like the integration of AI into customer and operational processes and establishing a multi-disciplinary data and AI function, the release said.

According to Lloyds, his hiring is part of the bank’s larger strategy — announced in 2022 — to accelerate its use of digital technologies.

The news comes as AI is poised to both challenge and transform the banking sector, according to a recent report by McKinsey.

“The banking industry’s track record with technology investments has been mixed, according to the firm,” PYMNTS wrote last month. “McKinsey’s research indicated that only 30% of digital transformation initiatives have succeeded. This statistic underscores banks’ difficulty demonstrating a return on investment for their tech spending, particularly in AI.”

A number of factors exacerbate these challenges, McKinsey said: banks need to show return on past tech investments, stand out from rivals and succeed in ongoing transformation efforts.

McKinsey’s data showed that higher revenue in banking “remains very strongly correlated with more manual work,” suggesting that technology still must deliver the expected automation benefits. The firm also stressed that capturing value from AI requires actions beyond the technology domain. McKinsey surveys revealed that 60% of executives pointed to skill gaps as an impeding digital transformation, while 70% faced resistance to change.

“The integration of AI in banking also raises questions about the future role of human bankers,” PYMNTS added. “While AI can streamline processes and provide quick data analysis, human judgment remains crucial, especially in complex financial decisions.”

Meanwhile, a report by Citigroup in June warned that the banking industry faces the most significant impact from AI deployment, with 54% of jobs at risk of AI-driven job displacement, while an additional 12% of banking roles could be enhanced by AI integration.

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The company’s cuts included its entire sales and marketing departments, Bloomberg reported Friday (July 19).

“Magic Leap has been evolving our go-to-market approach to better align with market dynamics and emerging opportunities, optimizing how we support our customers and our ecosystem,” a company spokesperson said in the report. “As part of this, we have consolidated our frontline engagement to our developer support and care teams.”

“We will continue to actively support Magic Leap’s customers, developers and our large ecosystem through the Developer Support and Care teams,” the spokesperson said.

Since its founding in 2010, Magic Leap has shifted its focus from building an AR headset for consumers, to focusing primarily on business users, to concentrating on technology licensing, according to the report.

The company now aims to license its optics technology used in AR headsets, the report said.

This report comes about two months after Google formed a partnership with Magic Leap.

The companies offered few details about their collaboration, but Reuters reported on May 30 that the partnership is a sign that Google could be planning a return to the market for augmented and virtual reality technology.

The partnership would meld Magic Leap’s optics and device manufacturing expertise with Google’s technology platforms, though neither company said whether the partnership is expected to produce a consumer AR device.

“We’ve shipped a couple of different versions of augmented reality devices so far, so we’re out there delivering things, and Google has a long history of platforms thinking,” Magic Leap Chief Technology Officer Julie Larson-Green told Reuters at the time. “So, we’re thinking, putting our expertise and their expertise together, there’s lots of things we could end up doing.”

In October, Magic Leap appointed Ross Rosenberg as CEO, saying he will drive the next phase of the company’s growth at a time when the enterprise AR market is beginning to merge around specific use cases and verticals.

“As companies begin to see the true [return on investment (ROI)] from deploying AR technologies, there is now a clear need state that Magic Leap is capable of solving for,” Rosenberg said at the time in a press release.

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Georges Elhedery, who became HSBC’s chief financial officer (CFO) last year, will move into the chief executive role (CEO) September 2, the bank announced Wednesday (July 17). 

He replaces Noah Quinn, who announced his resignation in April after 37 years with the bank and five as CEO.

Sir Mark Tucker, HSBC’s chairman, said Elhedery had shown “strategic insight and vision, and deep international perspectives” during the bank’s search for a new CEO.

“He is an exceptional leader and banker who cares passionately about the Bank, our customers, and our people,” Tucker said in a news release. “He has a track record of leading through change, driving growth, delivering simplification and containing costs, and brings a strong focus on execution.”

Elhedery has been with HSBC since 2005. Before becoming CFO, he served as co-CEO of global banking and markets, also leading the markets and securities services. He also served as CEO for the Middle Eastern, North Africa and Turkey from July 2016 to February 2019.

“I am deeply honored by the trust placed in me to lead this great institution into the future,” he said. “Working together with our talented team, I look forward to delivering exceptional value to our clients and investors by driving strong performance on a sustainable growth trajectory.”

According to the release, Elhedery will continue as CFO during the transition. An announcement about a new CFO for the bank “will be made in due course,” HSBC said.

The change in leadership follows reports earlier this month that HSBC had begun slowing its hiring while also asking its investment bankers to reduce expenses, part of an effort by management to lower costs in anticipation of interest rate cuts.

Sources told Bloomberg News that the bank was not filling some open positions and halting hiring altogether in certain departments. HSBC was also encouraging its investment bankers to group client meetings together to capitalize on business travel, the report said.

Meanwhile, HSBC’s Zing recently teamed with Visa to help develop the former company’s international payments app, launched in the United Kingdom in January. That app lets members hold funds in up to 10 different currencies, send more than 30 currencies, and transact in more than 200 countries and territories.

“We shared a clear vision with our partners at Visa — that people all across the globe want easy-to-use, secure and trustworthy financial products that enable them to live their best international lives,” James Allan, CEO and founder at Zing, said in a news release. “Zing delivers on that promise, and we look forward to building on this partnership in the future.”

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The latest cuts are part of the company’s ongoing effort to streamline its operations, Bloomberg reported Monday (July 15), citing an unnamed source.

Without specifying the number of layoffs, a Salesforce spokesperson told Bloomberg: “Like any healthy business, we continuously assess whether we have the right structure in place to best serve our customers and fuel growth areas. In some cases that leads to roles being eliminated.”

At the end of January, the firm had 72,682 employees, according to the report.

When Salesforce laid off 700 employees — or about 1% of its workforce — in January, the cuts were made across the company, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time. 

The report suggested that because the company still had 1,000 jobs open, those cuts were a routine adjustment of the workforce and an effort to redirect spending to other areas.

Salesforce made a bigger adjustment in January 2023, cutting 8,000 positions — or 10% of its workforce — while pointing to a slowdown in customers’ buying.

“Our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff wrote in a January 4, 2023, letter to employees.

The latest round of layoffs comes at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a role in recent tech sector job cuts.

Layoffs in the tech industry for the year exceeded 100,000 as of Friday (July 12), with a portion being attributed to companies shifting their focus to AI, Seeking Alpha reported Sunday (July 14), citing data from the tracker Layoffs.fyi.

On Tuesday (July 9), UiPath, a provider of AI-powered enterprise automation technology, said that it would lay off 10% of its global workforce of 4,200 as part of a restructuring aimed at managing its operating expenses.

“These changes reflect efforts to reshape the organization by streamlining the company’s structure, particularly in operational and corporate functions, better prioritizing our go-to-market investments and focusing our research and development investments on artificial intelligence and driving innovation across our platform,” UiPath said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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James Morris, a 25-year veteran of British banking giant Barclays, is expected to take on that role Sept. 30, Citi announced Monday (July 15) in a news release emailed to PYMNTS.

“James is an experienced banking leader with a proven track record of leading high-performance teams across multiple sectors and geographies,” Tasnim Ghiawadwala, head of Citi Commercial Bank, said in a news release. “I am confident that James will continue the excellent progress of our UK CCB franchise and drive strong momentum in the market.”

Morris will be responsible for all of Citi’s commercial banking business and operations in the U.K., including driving the bank’s business strategy and financial performance.

At Barclays, Morris held a number of senior positions, including U.K. head of business and professional services for large corporate banking, one he took on in 2021.

“CCB is an integral part of Citi’s global strategy and key engine for growth,” the news release said. “It focuses on delivering Citi’s product suite, including but not limited to cash and liquidity management, foreign exchange, trade finance, capital markets and lending solutions, to mid-sized corporates that are either global or looking to build an international footprint.”

In other British banking news, the country’s Financial Ombudsman Service said last week that U.K. consumers have more complaints about the banking sector than they did a year ago.

Complaints about the industry are at their highest level in at least a decade, with all the most complained about products seeing year-over-year increases in cases, the FOS said.

In all, the number of complaints jumped from 61,995 in the financial year 2022-23 to 80,137 in the financial year 2023-24.

“It’s always concerning when you see cases rise so significantly, particularly when so many people are struggling in the current economic climate,” Abby Thomas, CEO and chief ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said in a news release.

Frauds and scams accounted for more complaints than ever before, the regulator said, with about half of these cases involving authorized push payment (APP) scams in which consumers were duped into sending money only to fraudsters.

APP fraud is on the rise throughout countries where real-time and instant payment rails are increasingly common, including the U.K., the European Union and the United States, PYMNTS reported in March.

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The company, parent of QuickBooks and TurboTax, revealed the planned layoffs in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday (July 10), saying it plans to “hire a nearly equivalent number of employees in fiscal 2025 to support [its] declared growth areas and expects overall headcount to grow.”

In a note to employees included in the filing, CEO Sasan Goodarzi said the cuts come as Intuit is upping its investments in artificial intelligence.

“We were early to bet on and invest in AI, building one of the largest AI-driven expert platforms to fuel the success of consumers, small and mid-market businesses, and important partners like accountants, financial institutions and marketing agencies who rely on us daily to prosper,” Goodarzi wrote. “With the introduction of GenAI, we are now delivering even more compelling customer experiences, increasing monetization potential and driving efficiencies in how the work gets done within Intuit.”

The company’s future hires will be in “engineering, product and customer-facing roles such as sales, customer success and marketing,” he added in the note.

Intuit is also closing its plants in Edmonton, Ontario, and Boise, Idaho, the filing said.

Intuit last month announced its new AI-powered “revenue intelligence” technology, which uses what it called “always-on” predictive and generative AI models.

The system is intended to proactively give marketers opportunities to win more business by recommending optimal times to target customers and generating personalized content, the company said.

“Intuit’s move is the latest example of a technology company tapping AI to try to make its products more useful and attract customers,” PYMNTS wrote at the time. “AI has been one of the hottest areas of technology investment in recent years as startups and big companies alike race to capitalize on its potential to automate tasks and provide new insights from data.”

The company said in May that it was leaning on AI to help its small business clients.

“The era of AI is one of the most significant technology shifts in our lifetime, and our strategy to be the global AI-driven expert platform is delivering significant benefits to our customers and strong results across the company,” Goodarzi said at the time. “I’m proud of our innovation and performance, and because of our momentum, we are raising Intuit’s revenue, operating income and earnings per share guidance for the fiscal year.”

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.

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The firm employed about 4,200 people worldwide as of July 1, UiPath said in a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that disclosed the layoffs.

“This workforce reduction is aimed at further driving operational efficiency and customer centricity,” the company said in the filing. “These changes reflect efforts to reshape the organization by streamlining the company’s structure, particularly in operational and corporate functions, better prioritizing our go-to-market investments and focusing our research and development investments on artificial intelligence and driving innovation across our platform.”

UiPath shares have lost more than half their value this year, at a time when the Nasdaq is up 23%, CNBC reported Tuesday.

In the time since its 2021 initial public offering (IPO) that was one of the largest U.S. software offerings ever, the company has seen its revenue growth slow, according to the report.

UiPath reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings in May but lowered its guidance for the full year, the report said. It now forecasts annual growth of about 7.5%, which would be down from the prior year’s 24%, per the report.

The company said in a May 29 press release that Rob Enslin was resigning as CEO and a member of the board of directors on June 1, and that UiPath’s founder and former CEO Daniel Dines would be reappointed CEO on that date.

“I thank Rob for his contributions to UiPath during the past two years, during which he played a significant role in the company’s growth,” Dines said in the release. “With this change, I’m excited to step back into the CEO role and I am looking forward to leading the company through our next phase of profitable growth and innovation.”

At the time of its 2021 IPO, which valued the company at $36 billion, it was reported that UiPath’s digital transformation technology was initially applied to back-office tasks but later added front-office areas for its bots.

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