In 1987, Il Giornale acquired Starbucks assets for 3.8 million dollars (Entrepreneur, 2008) with the help and backing of local investors, merged the stores with Il Giornale, and changed the company's name to the Starbucks Corporation. This was a big acquisition as the total number of stores escalated to seventeen and began operating in Seattle, Chicago and Vancouver, Canada.
Schultz started offering full and part time employees heath benefits in 1988. This decision was a personal one for Schultz. As the son of a blue collar worker, he knew first hand how not having health care and benefits had affect his family growing up. According to Schultz, "My greatest success has been that I got to build the kind of company my father never got to work for," (Entrepreneur, 2008). These decisions helped to create a more loyal and hard working work force and promoted an extremely high level of customer service. 1989 the number of Starbucks stores continued growing and equaled fifty-five stores. In 1991 Starbucks became the first privately owned U.S. Company to offer a stock option program that for full and part time employees, another step in retaining good employees and promoting low turnover.
1992 was a big year for Starbucks, as they completed their initial public offering, allowing shares of it's stock to be sold to the public. In 1992 the first two for one stock split was announced, giving shareholders double the amount of shares. In 1994 there were 425 stores and the first drive-thru location was opened, making Starbucks a true, "on the go," experience. In 1995 the second two for one stock split was announced and Starbucks began serving its infamous Frappuccino, bottling the beverage in 1996 through North America Coffee Partnerships. In 1996 the first store was opened outside of the United States in Japan and Singapore and the total number of stores reaches 1,015 (Starbucks, 2014).
