In 1987, the original partners sold Starbucks to Schultz, who promptly merged it with Il Giornale to create the Starbucks corporation. At the time it had 17 stores in total, but this would quickly change as Starbucks started opening outlets outside Seattle that same year, even opening one in Vancouver, Canada. By the time Starbucks became a publicly traded company in 1992, it had already grown to 165 outlets. In 1996 Starbucks opened its first non North American store in Tokyo; and two years later it entered Great Britain by purchasing the Seattle Coffee Company, swallowing up its 60 stores and rebranding them as Starbucks. More chain acquisitions included Seattle's Best Coffee, Torrefazione Italia, and Diedrich Coffee.
Since its first introduction in 2000, fair trade coffee has represented an increasing percentage of Starbucks sales. Currently, free trade coffee accounts for 3.7 percent of all Starbucks coffee sales.
Starbucks initiated several successful product and brand extensions including offering coffee on United Airlines flights. They also began selling premium teas through its Tazo Tea Company and offering people the option to purchase starbucks coffee online to enjoy at home.
They began distributing whole bean and ground coffee to supermarkets through an agreement with Kraft Foods. They also produced premium coffee ice cream with Dreyers. Starbucks even sold CDs in its retail stores.
As of 2007, Starbucks was ranked by Fortune magazine as the 16th best company to work for in the United States, up from 29th in 2006. In 2005 it was ranked the 11th best. Starbucks was also voted as one of the top ten UK workplaces by the Financial Times in 2007.