News

Starbucks VP quits

March 1, 2006

Starbucks Corp. vice president Don MacKinnon resigned for personal reasons March 2, the company said. MacKinnon joined the company in 1999 after Starbucks acquired his company, Hear Music, for $8 million. MacKinnon ran the Hear Music operations.

According to a Bloomberg report, Hear Music, which at the time was a retail chain in San Francisco, became the cornerstone of Starbucks' music efforts — and the company even has a Hear Music-branded channel on XM Satellite Radio.

The company also is relocating the music department employees who scout artists to Los Angeles from Seattle so they will be closer to record labels and musicians, said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment.

According to Starbucks figures, the company sold nearly 3.5 million CDs in its cafes and music stores last year. But Starbucks record labels have struggled to raise sales amid piracy by users of file-sharing services. Most recently, Starbucks has expanded in entertainment by selling movies on DVD and co-producing albums such as the late Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company."