🇨🇳 STARBUCKS SURRENDERS CHINA - $4B EXIT FROM THE $2 LATTE WAR When your market share collapses from 34% to 14% in 5 years, you don’t restructure - you tap out. Starbucks just sold 60% of its China business to Boyu Capital for $4 billion, keeping a minority stake and the right to rent out its own logo. They’re calling it a “joint venture.” Wall Street calls it what it is: surrender with a smile. The assassin? Luckin Coffee - the local underdog that tanked in a fraud scandal, came back swinging, and now runs circles around Starbucks with $2 lattes and app-based speed. While Seattle sold vibes, Luckin sold caffeine on demand. Guess who won? China makes up 20% of Starbucks stores but a shrinking slice of its profits. The numbers don’t add up - unless you’re quietly admitting the empire’s on fire. This isn’t a one-off. It’s the new script: foreign giants bleed market share, call it “local partnership,” then vanish behind a JV press release. Nike, Apple, take notes - the age of Western brand supremacy in China just ended over a cup of coffee.