Brian Niccol

You know, they've had two consecutive quarters of comp growth.

The team, I think, is really doing a great job of listening to customers, reacting and building on the strength of the Starbucks brand.

As it relates to finding a partner for our China business, this process, I think, has really, I think, validated what I knew, which is China is a tremendous growth opportunity.

And the process has also demonstrated to us that the partners that we're

We were fortunate that came to the table, are excited about getting this brand to go from 8,000 stores to 15, 20,000 stores.

And their expertise is in the local China market.

I think it's going to help our team get into those tier three, four, five cities faster and with the right execution so that we are able to build on this positive momentum that we have.

So I'm looking forward to wrapping up the process.

And I'm looking forward to our China team being 100% focused on just growing that business into the future in a big way.

You know, you never know on the timing on these things.

But, you know, I love the partners that we're working with.

And I'm optimistic that we're going to get this deal done in the not too distant future.