The incredible rags-to-riches story of Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz

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Howard Schultz Starbucks

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Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz says he drinks four to five cups of coffee a day.

Thirty years ago, Howard Schultz got into the coffee business with one goal in mind: to enhance the personal relationship between people and their coffee.

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He's now responsible for Starbucks, one of the world's most beloved brands, and worth at least $3 billion as chairman and CEO of the Fortune 500 company. But it wasn't an easy path to the top.

How did Schultz, who came from a "working poor" family in the Brooklyn projects, overcome adversity and grow a quaint Seattle coffeehouse into the largest coffee chain on Earth?

Scroll through to learn the story behind Starbucks and its leading man.

Additional reporting by Shana Lebowitz.

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