Topline
Chipotle’s stock price surged on Thursday hours after the Financial Times reported Starbucks had explored options to purchase the fast casual burrito chain—a deal that could be one of the largest restaurant chain mergers in history.
Starbucks reportedly considered a takeover of the fast casual burrito chain, according to a report in the Financial Times.
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Key Facts
Starbucks worked on a takeover deal to acquire Chipotle in the past few months, the Financial Times first reported on Thursday, although it is unclear how likely it is for this deal to go through or if the coffee shop company ever sent a proposal to the burrito chain.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, the executive leading the company’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround campaign, came to the company in 2024 after helming Chipotle for about six years.
Chipotle’s stock price skyrocketed after the report was published, rising over 8% on Thursday before settling around 7% up at 3:20 p.m. EDT.
The burrito company’s stock has had a mixed performance this year, and was down about 20% over the last year—including a drop over the summer when jalapeno peppers served at the restaurant in some states were linked to a salmonella outbreak.
Meanwhile Starbucks’ stock price fell over 6%, before recovering slightly towards the end of the day and was only down about 2.3% as of 3:20 p.m.
Neither Starbucks nor Chipotle immediately returned requests for comment from Forbes about the reported plans.
Key Background
A Starbucks-Chipotle acquisition would likely end up being one of the largest restaurant chain mergers in history, potentially rivaling Burger King’s $11.5 billion acquisition of Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons in 2014. Starbucks says it operates roughly 40,000 stores worldwide, including about 18,000 stores in North America, although the company has closed some underperforming stores in recent months. At the end of last year, Chipotle said it operated 4,056 stores worldwide. Chipotle reported $11.9 billion in total revenue in 2025, while Starbucks reported $37.2 billion.
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