Starbucks has agreed to sell a 60% stake in its China business to Hong Kong-based private equity group Boyu Capital to form a joint venture valued at $4 billion. The US company is set to license the brand and IP to the new JV.
Starbucks is following in the footsteps of McDonald’s and KFC in the China market, maintaining brand presence and drawing income from the country, but giving away actual ownership and decision-making power.
This is another example of the ever-growing division between China and the West, and the difficulties that foreign firms face in operating in China and competing with the systemic support that domestic alternatives often receive.