Starbucks lays off 2K in Middle East amid boycott over Gaza war

The Kuwaiti Alshaya Group, which owns the rights to operate Starbucks cafes in the Middle East, has laid off more than 2,000 employees as it struggles with continuous boycotts of the company due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The layoff began on Sunday, March 3, amounting to about four percent of



Alshaya’s total workforce of almost 50,000 people, Reuters reported.

In a statement, Alshaya said, “As a result of the continually challenging trading conditions over the last six months, we have taken the sad and very difficult decision to reduce the number of colleagues in our Starbucks MENA stores.”