Howard Schultz announced on Monday that he was stepping down after more than three decades at Starbucks. Schultz has led the coffee chain, as a CEO and an executive chairman, since the late 1980s.

"Who could have imagined how far we would travel together, from 11 stores in 1987 to more than 28,000 stores in 77 countries," Schultz said in a letter to current and former employees. "But these numbers are not the true measures of our success. Starbucks changed the way millions of people drink coffee, this is true, but we also changed people's lives in communities around the world for the better."

Schultz's departure from the chain comes after years of rumors of the businessman's political aspirations -- something Schultz acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times.