PETALING JAYA: Starbucks Malaysia has denied allegations that it supports the Israeli government and the Israeli army financially.
Starbucks Malaysia stressed that it has no political agenda and condemns violence, the loss of innocent life and hate and weaponised speech.
“Starbucks has been and remains a non-political organisation.
“Neither Starbucks nor the company’s former chairman, president and chief executive officer, Howard Schultz, provide financial support to the Israeli government and/or the Israeli Army in any way.
“Starbucks is a publicly held company and is required to disclose any corporate giving each year through a proxy statement,” it said in a statement on its website.
“We do not use our profits to fund any government or military operations anywhere – and never have,” it added.
Starbucks Malaysia also said that it does not have any stores in Israel, and has dissolved its partnership with Israel since 2003. It said the dissolution was not due to political reasons but the ongoing operational challenges it experienced in that market.
The statement also affirmed that Starbucks Malaysia was wholly owned by a public-listed Malaysian company, Berjaya Food Berhad (BFood), for over 25 years.
Starbucks Malaysia was one of the foreign food and beverage outlets that were affected by the ongoing boycott of supposedly Israeli-linked companies following the recent uptick in violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Recently, on Feb 22, BFood posted a net loss of RM42.6mil, or loss per share of 2.42 sen in the second quarter ended Dec 31 (2Q24) against a net profit of RM35.5mil, or 2.02 sen posted last year. BFood has said that the loss was mainly due to the boycott.
