Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Joins Ryan Clark’s Production Company as Partner and Investor

Emmy-winning sports broadcaster and Super Bowl champion Ryan Clark has enlisted a big name to help him grow his burgeoning media company.

Pivot25 Productions, the company Clark co-founded in 2025 with Emmy-winning producer Alicia Zubikowski, announced on Sept. 22 that former Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz has joined the company as a strategic partner and investor. Schultz, known for growing Starbucks from a regional coffee chain into a global brand, will focus on growing Pivot25 Productions into an “enduring media enterprise,” per a news release.

Clark, 46, a former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back and current co-host of “The Pivot Sports with Ryan Clark,” shared the origins of the partnership on Craig Melvin’s latest episode of “Glass Half Full.”

Clark said he initially heard from Schultz after he was let go by ESPN in July after 11 years as a sports personality with the network.

“The first thing he did, he sends me this long text message, and he talks about what happens to me,” Clark said of Schultz. “He talks about this deep dive he’s done on me since he saw it happen, and how he wants to not only be a part of my comeback, but he believes that I’m a brand. He believes in things that I stand for, which I hadn’t heard from somebody of his stature who didn’t look like me. I’m just being honest.”

Clark pitched Schultz on a single show, but the former Fortune 500 CEO encouraged him to think bigger.

“I told him that I wanted to do a show, and from there he was like, ‘Wait, why would we just talk about doing one show? Like, yes, we’re going to do this show, but I believe in who you are. I believe in your capabilities. I believe that in you being a brand, we can build an entire network, and I don’t want you to have to go add,’” Clark said.

“The Pivot Sports with Ryan Clark” is produced in partnership with NFL films and is co-hosted by former Jacksonville Jaguars star running back Fred Taylor and former Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder.

The show has more than a million YouTube subscribers and recently entered a deal with Netflix to stream video of the podcast.

Schultz will contribute lessons from building Starbucks as well as “strategic counsel, commercial relationships, networking expertise and access to capital resources,” per a news release from Pivot25 Productions.

“We are living through a profound transformation in media,” Schultz said in a statement. “Audiences are increasingly choosing people and platforms they trust over traditional institutions, and the barriers between sports, business, culture and entertainment are disappearing.

“Ryan, Alicia, and the team have built something special within this new landscape. They have earned an audience not simply because of who they are or what they accomplished, but because of the honesty, curiosity and humanity they bring to their conversations.”