AMD Hits $1 Trillion as BofA Raises Price Target to $720 
Oil Prices Ease as Iran Tensions Clash With Diplomacy Hopes 
OpenAI to Preview GPT-6 Cyber AI Model for Cybersecurity 
EQT Plans €1.7 Billion Sale of Parques Reunidos Stake 
US Stock Futures Fall as Treasury Yields Surge Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit 
Oil Prices Fall on U.S.-Iran Hormuz Deal Hopes 
Gold Holds Near $4,275 as Rising Treasury Yields Fuel Fed Rate Hike Bets 
Dollar Falls as Oil Eases, Yen Jumps on Intervention Signals 
Fed’s Hammack Says Bond Yield Surge Is Not Driven by Inflation Fears 
Tesla Semi Rollout Begins at Nevada Factory 
Jeff Bezos Invests $32 Billion in Blue Origin as Space Firm Targets Major Growth 
Canadian Dollar Faces Pressure as Fed-BoC Policy Gap Widens 
Costco Revenue Beats Estimates as Inflation Drives Bulk Shopping 
Novo Nordisk Strikes €1.17 Billion Nanexa Drug Delivery Deal 
Oura IPO Draws Strong Demand Ahead of $2.2 Billion Offering 
Former OpenAI Data Center Chief Chris Malone Joins Nvidia 
Add as a preferred source on Google
Starbucks Corp. is allegedly thinking of selling its business operations in the United Kingdom. The reason why the coffee company is exploring this move is that newer brands of coffee houses are coming into the market and creating tough competition.
According to Reuters, Starbucks Coffee hired and requested Houlihan Lokey Inc., a business adviser, to canvass any interest for its U.K. operations. It was mentioned by a business insider that the company is facing stiff competition against its rivals such as Tim Hortons, Costa, and Pret A Manger.
Currently, Starbucks U.K. is operating more than 1,000 store outlets, and its workforce consists of about 4,000 employees. The Financial Times reported that out of 1,000 Starbucks stores in the U.K., 70% are franchises, while the remaining are company owned.
In any case, while it is mulling the sale of its business in the country, it was reported that it has not yet initiated any formal process for the sale. As of this time, the company is reviewing and evaluating its strategic options.
Aside from the arrival of many new coffee store brands in the U.K., another thing that pushed Starbucks to consider the sale of its business is the prolonged pandemic. The restrictions related to COVID-19 have changed consumer habits, including the way people dine. As a result, businesses have been severely affected, and they started seeing their sales going down.
The news that Starbucks is considering the sale of its business first emerged during the weekend. While it is not yet really pushing for the sale of its U.K. operations, Starbucks is making plans to recover higher sales while also improving its services. It is making adjustments based on how people buy and dine as they are only starting to go out of their homes now as the cases of COVID-19 have gone down.
The coffee chain is hoping that offices, entertainment locations, parks, and other public establishments will recover and return to normal operations because this will also be beneficial to their business.
“It’s quite a capital-intensive estate and it is pretty urban-focused,” a person familiar with the Starbucks sale exploration said with regards to the issue. “It got hammered quite hard in Covid and it has not come back to the same level.”
