Starbucks’ New CEO Brian Niccol Joins Select Group of ‘Supercommuting’ Executives

The city of Seattle, Wash. has long been associated with Starbucks. It’s where the coffee chain was initially established more than 50 years ago, where its first-ever cafe was opened and where the Starbucks headquarters remain today. It’s also where Brian Niccol, the company’s incoming CEO, will spend three days a week—despite living in Newport Beach, California.

Niccol’s appointment to replace Starbucks’ current CEO Laxman Narasimhan was announced earlier this month, with the new chief executive expected to start on Sept. 9. and use his past experience running Chipotle (CMG) to lead Starbucks through lagging sales and growing pressure from activist investors. Niccol will receive a base salary of $1.6 million in his new job, alongside potential cash bonuses ranging from $3.6 million to $7.2 million, according to an offer letter filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He will not be required to relocate to Seattle, according to the letter. Instead, he will commute from his California residence in Newport Beach. Starbucks will also pay to establish a “small remote office” near his home and employ an assistant for Niccol there.

Niccol will, however, still be required to spend three days a week in the coffee chain’s Seattle office as per the company’s hybrid work policy, Starbucks told CNBC, noting that Niccol’s primary office and “a majority of his time” will be located in Seattle. Starbucks has agreed to reimburse the CEO for temporary housing arrangements and transportation in Seattle while he looks for a home in the city and will offer Niccol use of company aircraft for his commute of nearly 1,000 miles, in addition to covering personal travel worth up to $250,000 a year.

While Niccol’s “supercommute” might seem unnecessary, such arrangements aren’t all that uncommon amongst top executives who prefer to remain based outside of their company’s headquarters. Here’s a look at some other CEOs who have embraced lengthy travels to the office:

Hillary Super, CEO of Victoria’s Secret

Currently the head of Rihanna’s lingerie brand Savage X Fenty, Hillary Super is set to take the reins at Victoria's Secret (VSCO) in September when she steps up as its new CEO. Like Niccol, she will be based outside of the company’s headquarters, which are located near Columbus, Ohio, and will instead work from New York, according to an employee agreement letter. Super will be required to commute frequently to Columbus, with travel expenses covered by her new employer.

Charles Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo

Although he has acted as chief executive of the San Francisco-based Wells Fargo (WFC) for some five years now, Charles Scharf continues to live in New York and uses company jets for business and personal travel. “Whether it’s the Wells Fargo job or any other job I had, [I] spend very little time actually in [my] office,” Scharf told analysts in 2019 shortly after his appointment.

Ironically, the financial executive previously left his job as CEO of Visa, which is also headquartered in San Francisco, in 2016 after the strain of supercommuting began to take a toll. “I am sad to have reached the conclusion that I should step down, but running a San Francisco-based company just doesn’t work for me personally right now and wouldn’t be fair to Visa,” said Scharf in a statement at the time.

Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines

Before becoming CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby served as president of the Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines between 2013 and 2016. During this time, he acquired a house in Dallas that has remained his primary residence despite having since moved over to the Chicago-based United Airlines, which allows the airline executive to commute to and from Texas.

Spencer Rascoff, former CEO of Zillow

A co-founder of Zillow, Spencer Rascoff also served as CEO of the real estate company for nearly a decade before stepping down in 2019. Six years in, however, he made the decision to move away from the company’s headquarters of Seattle to his hometown of Los Angeles in order to spend more time with family.

In 2016 alone, Zillow reportedly spent nearly $250,000 on Rascoff’s commutes via a private jet. “It’s not uncommon for executives at large companies to do this because (like me) they already spend a lot of time traveling each week,” Rascoff told employees in a memo announcing his move. “Where they lay their head on the weekend is really just dependent on what is best for their family.”

David Calhoun, former CEO of Boeing

While leading the Arlington, Va.-based Boeing (BA), David Calhoun’s primary residences included a home at New Hampshire’s Lake Sunapee and another located in a South Carolina gated community, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported 400 instances of Boeing private jets arriving at airports near the CEO’s home between 2020 and 2023. Employees in Arlington even reportedly poked fun at his supercommute by putting up signs reading “Lake Sunapee” in their office.

Calhoun stepped down from Boeing earlier this year and has since been succeeded by Kelly Ortberg, who is also not based in Arlington but chose instead to live near the aerospace’s production facilities in Seattle.