Seattle: Starbucks Corp, the world’s largest coffee shop operator, announced a quarterly dividend of 10 cents a share, its first since going public in 1992, to return cash to shareholders.

Two glaring signs that the US economy remains in a deep slump sent stocks reeling today.

Starbucks Corp plans to slash nearly 7,000 more jobs during a new round of store closures and other cuts, the company said as it reported that its profit dropped by more than two thirds in its fiscal first quarter.