Starbucks Closing 200 More US Stores

Starbucks Corp. plans to slash nearly 7,000 more jobs during a new round of store closures and other cuts, the company said as it reported that its profit dropped by more than two-thirds in its fiscal first quarter. The coffee chain plans to close 300 underperforming stores around the world—including 200 in the US—by the end of the fiscal year in addition to the 600 US stores it began closing this summer.

The new closures could result in the loss of 6,000 jobs, but the company said it will try to offer employees transfers to other nearby locations. Starbucks also plans to lay off about 700 non-store employees and has reduced the number of new stores it plans to open. The cuts and changes will result in about $500 million in savings in fiscal 2009, the company said. (More Starbucks stories.)