Starbucks and the Tale of the Forgotten Memo

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Since the famous Valentine's Day Memo in which Starbucks (SBUX Quote - Cramer on SBUX - Stock Picks) Chairman Howard Schultz, one of the few geniuses in American business today, was either admitting that his company had lost its way or just trying to motivate upper management, the business media have had two opportunities to put this Memo, a new character in the storied Starbucks story, into desperately needed perspective.

The first time they had the opportunity -- at the Starbucks annual meeting back in March -- their coverage revolved almost solely around Sir Paul McCartney, who appeared by television hookup to announce a recording deal.

Sir Paul was a new character in the Starbucks story, too, but not as central as Mr. Memo. Still, the smitten baby boomers in the business media hardly wrote about anything but McCartney. Mr. Memo, I guess, was written out of the scene.

Second Quarter, Second Chance

But wait! The business media had a second chance in only the last half-day. God bless second acts, right? It's the stuff of Great American novels. Anyhow, Starbucks reported its second-quarter earnings, and this, of course, was the perfect chance to measure Schultz's words against numbers. Second quarter, second acts, how poetically perfect. All you have to do is weave that forgotten character, Mr. Memo, into earnings stories. What a literary method to foreshadow the future to investors.

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