Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is stepping down - here's his incredible rags-to-riches story

Starbucks announced Thursday that its CEO Howard Schultz is stepping down next year. Schultz will be appointed executive chairman and and Kevin Johnson, the company's current president and COO, will assume the CEO position April 3.

Schultz got into the coffee business 30 years ago with one goal in mind: to enhance the personal relationship between people and their coffee.

He's now responsible for Starbucks, one of the world's most beloved brands and the largest coffee chain on the planet, with a market capitalization of $84 billion as of December. Last year, Starbucks' profits reached $2.8 billion on revenues of $19 billion, both record highs.

But Schultz hasn't been singularly focused on the traditional bottom line. He's a dynamic model of a progressive CEO who's as animated by social issues and employee welfare as he is profit margins. In fact, in a letter to employees in October, Schultz announced wage raises ranging from 5% to 15% for all US employees. The wage hike reinforces Schultz's longstanding commitment to investing in his employees' success, and it positions Starbucks as a key player in the biggest economic story in America today.

How did Schultz, who came from a "working poor" family in the Brooklyn projects, overcome adversity and grow a quaint Seattle coffeehouse into the world's largest coffee chain and a model for conscious capitalism?

Scroll through to learn the story behind Starbucks and the man responsible for much of its success.