Elliott seeks to install Cohn on Starbucks board, sources say

(Reuters) -Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is seeking to add Jesse Cohn, an equity and managing partner in the firm, to the Starbucks board, sources said.

The coffee house chain and the hedge fund have held talks over the last weeks, but the current status of settlement discussions could not be learned.

Elliott, which owns a sizable stake in the company and has been pushing it to improve its performance and stock price, has proposed expanding the size of the board and making a seat available for Cohn.

Starbucks has not yet agreed to the idea and there is no certainty on the timing of a possible settlement or what the agreement may look like.

Television station CNBC first reported that Elliott and Starbucks have talked about adding Cohn as a Starbucks director. CNBC also reported that the activist proposed governance improvement as part of a possible settlement that would allow CEO Laxman Narasimhan to keep his position.

Cohn joined Elliott in 2004, and has been at the forefront of Elliott's activist investments including in Salesforce and Twitter.

In July Starbucks missed expectations for third-quarter global same-store sales, as demand weakened in the United States and China.

Starbucks had confirmed that Elliott was a shareholder during its third-quarter earnings call and that talks with the investor had been "constructive".

Starbucks declined to comment, while Elliott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former CEO Howard Schultz has opposed a potential settlement between Starbucks and Elliott, sources said.

Schultz is the sixth-largest shareholder in Starbucks and became Starbucks' lifelong chairman emeritus after his retirement from the post of CEO in 2023.

Starbucks' shares, which have fallen about 21% so far this year, were up 4% on Monday.

Another activist investor, Starboard Value also owns Starbucks shares but sources told Reuters on Friday that Starboard has not made any demands as it has not contacted the company.

(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Nick Zieminski)