Key Takeaways
- On Benny Blanco and Lil Dicky’s Friends Keep Secrets podcast, Kenny G says he became one of Starbucks' first 10 investors in 1987 after his uncle connected him with Howard Schultz when the company had just one Pike Place store selling coffee beans.
- After seeing the other early backers, Kenny G decided to match their move, an investment that later exploded in value as Starbucks went public in 1992 and its stock has since returned more than 26,500 percent.
- His relationship with the brand went beyond money — he played at early store openings, and his 1994 Christmas album, Miracles, became the first record Starbucks ever sold, kickstarting its in-store music retail model.
Kenny G has recalled one of his earliest — and savviest — business investments, and it involves the world's most famous coffee brand.
Appearing on the latest episode of Benny Blanco and Lil Dicky's Friends Keep Secrets podcast, the legendary saxophonist was asked if it was true that he was one of Starbucks' earliest investors.
Explaining that it was, indeed, true, Kenny then explained how it all came to be. "The fact is that there was one store in the Pike Place Market in Seattle, one Starbucks store, and they just sold coffee beans," he began (around the 6:55 mark in the clip below). "My uncle says, 'Hey, they're trying to raise money for Starbucks coffee.' I go, 'I don't know anything about coffee.' He goes, 'Yeah, well, I'm going to put some money in and why don't you meet the guy that's raising the money?'"
Kenny then shared that he had a meeting with Howard D. Schultz, the former chairman and CEO of Starbucks, who he went on to become friends with for a time. He recalled asking Schultz who else was investing in the company.
"I looked at the names. I go, 'Oh my gosh. Okay.' I said, 'Whatever they're doing, I'm gonna do.' And that's how that's how it started," he said.
At that point, Blanco asked if Kenny was on of the first investors, to which he replied that he was actually among the first 10. "Wow!" Blanco replied, amazed at the sheer savviness of the saxophonist's business acumen all those years ago.
Kenny G's uncle, Harold Gorlick, was already among Schultz's earliest backers when Schultz was raising $3.8 million in 1987 to acquire the Starbucks brand and take it national. At the time, the chain operated just six locations, all in the Seattle area, and had not yet gone public. The investment for both Kenny and his uncle paid off spectacularly. Starbucks went public in 1992, and the stock has returned more than 26,500 percent from its IPO price to date.
Kenny G's involvement extended beyond the balance sheet: he performed at early Starbucks store openings, and his 1994 Christmas album Miracles became the first record the chain ever sold, effectively launching its in-store music retail model.
This isn't the first time Kenny G has recounted the story. In a January 2015 Bloomberg interview, he credited his uncle as "the very first guy that gave Howard Schultz money to get Starbucks growing."
A clip of Kenny's chat was shared to the Friends Keep Secrets Instagram with the caption: "Without kenny g, there is no starbucks."
