Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz’s announcement that he will leave the company at the end of the month prompted immediate speculation about a potential political future for the man who built Starbucks into a global behemoth. Schultz — whose potential political future has been the subject of such speculation for years, including in a 2015 TIME cover story — remained non-commital on the topic this week, telling the New York Times ahead of the announcement that he was considering a “range of options” in response to a question about running for president. In an interview with TIME in March, Schultz stressed that he remained a private citizen but jumped into political discussion and hinted at the themes that could animate a potential campaign including reducing the national debt and bipartisanship. “There’s just been a lack of responsibility [from] both parties,” he told TIME at a Starbucks coffee farm in Costa Rica.