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Cramer: 'I feel better' after Starbucks CEO Schultz expressed confidence in successor
CNBC's Jim Cramer said Friday some of his initial disappointment about Howard Schultz 's decision to step down as Starbucks (SBUX) CEO has been alleviated.
"I feel better," Cramer said on " Squawk Box " after the chief executive, in an exclusive interview with CNBC, expressed confidence in his successor, Kevin Johnson.
"When I heard the news," Cramer said, "I was immediately very disappointed because I love what Howard [has] done. He is iconic. But what Howard did subsequently in our interview is state, 'Look, this is how it's going to go. I'm still very much involved, but we do have technology problems.' Kevin's better than that, better at that than he is."
On Thursday, Schultz said he hand over the CEO post to Johnson, the current president and COO of Starbucks. The announcement surprised investors and sent Starbucks's stock tumbling. It was down about 2 percent in early trading Friday.
Schultz said Johnson was "well-equipped" to take the company to a higher level.
"What was clear was Kevin's ability," Schultz said. "He is much better prepared to manage the global operations of the company than I am at this stage."
Before joining Starbucks, Johnson worked closely with Steve Ballmer at Microsoft and was CEO of Juniper Networks.
—CNBC's Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.
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