SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. coffee giant Starbucks announced on Monday that Laxman Narasimhan has officially taken over the company's CEO position from Howard Schultz and will lead the annual shareholders meeting Thursday.
The announcement came sooner than expected.
After being named the incoming CEO in September last year, the coffee giant previously said Narasimhan was expected to assume duties fully in April.
Narasimhan praised Schultz for laying a solid foundation for Starbucks, adding, "I am honored to have the opportunity to build on this deep heritage."
Before his appointment, Narasimhan was chief executive of Reckitt, which owns Lysol, Mucinex and other brands of household goods and baby formula products. ■