Howard Schultz, the chairman emeritus and former CEO of coffee chain Starbucks, announced Tuesday that he and his wife have moved to Surfside in South Florida.
Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, is the latest in a string of billionaires to move to South Florida.
Schultz, now the chairman emeritus of the coffee giant, announced in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that he and his wife, Sheri Kersch Schultz, had left Seattle for Miami. In the post, he described the move as their “next adventure together,” saying they were “enjoying the sunshine” and being closer to family on the East Coast.
The couple has reportedly spent $44 million on a five-bedroom, 5,500-square-foot penthouse at the Surf Club Four Seasons Private Residences in Surfside, just north of Miami Beach. Schultz is worth an estimated $3.5 billion, Forbes has reported.
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Schultz said the philanthropic Schultz Family Foundation will continue to be based in Seattle under new leadership. Schultz’s private family company will move to Miami, he added.
The Schultz Family Foundation has not responded to an email from the Miami Herald asking about the Schultzes’ decision to move to Florida.
Lawmakers in Washington state, where the Schultzes lived for decades, are mulling a millionaire tax, which would levy a tax of 9.9% on income over $1 million. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signaled late last year that he supports the measure. Schultz did not reference the proposed tax in his post, but he did express his support for pro-business policies in Washington.
“It is our hope that Washington will remain a place for business and entrepreneurship to thrive,” Schultz wrote.
At the same time, a proposed billionaire tax in California seems to have spooked several Silicon Valley billionaires. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, have fled to Florida, making major Miami-area real estate buys in recent months.
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Last week, Zuckerberg broke Miami-Dade County’s record price for a home sale when he closed on a $170 million partially completed mansion in the exclusive Indian Creek community off Miami Beach.
This story was originally published March 11, 2026 at 1:53 PM.
Miami Herald
Catherine Odom covers real estate for the Miami Herald. She previously interned on the Herald’s government team and has worked as a journalist in Germany and Armenia. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.