Starbucks abandons 2,000 of its employees in the Middle East.. Why did the activists celebrate?.
Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan announced last January that Israel's war on Gaza had harmed the company's business in the region. Alshaya Group, which owns the right to operate the Starbucks coffee chain in 13 countries in the Mideast and North Africa, announced that it was greatly affected by the boycott in all of its 1,900 branches, in which 19,000 employees work.