Starbucks: “We Won’t Acquire Chipotle”—Official Denial Comes Four Days Later

[Financial News] U.S. coffee chain Starbucks denied reports that it was considering acquiring Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle.
A Starbucks spokesperson told U.S. business news network CNBC on the 12th (local time), “Starbucks will not acquire Chipotle.”
The statement came four days after the U.K.’s Financial Times (FT) reported the acquisition rumors.
The market has been focused on the possibility of the two brands coming together since the report, given that Brian Niccol, now Starbucks’ CEO, previously served as Chipotle’s CEO for six years.
The market believed that, if completed, the acquisition would have been the largest merger and acquisition (M&A) in the history of the restaurant industry.
The current record is Burger King’s acquisition of Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons for $11.4 billion (about 15.2 trillion won).
Chipotle shares, which had risen at least 7% immediately after the FT report, plunged after Starbucks denied the acquisition rumors that day, returning to their pre-report level. By contrast, Starbucks shares, which had plunged, rose about 1.5% that day.
Starbucks shareholders had been concerned that the company would pursue a major acquisition worth tens of trillions of won at a time when it needed to devote all its efforts to recovering its own performance. CNBC assessed that the denial of the acquisition rumors had allayed those concerns.  


[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Specialist Reporter