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July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp. will close 600 U.S. coffee shops and eliminate as many as 12,000 jobs, the most in its history, as Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz slows the chain's expansion after it doubled in size in four years.

Starbucks gained as much as 7.2 percent in late Nasdaq trading after saying the reductions amount to 7 percent of its workforce worldwide. The cuts include full- and part-time employees and will come over the next nine months, the Seattle- based company said today in a regulatory filing.

Seventy percent of the stores to be shut are less than three years old, the company said. Schultz, the 54-year-old former CEO who regained the post in January, is coming to grips with Starbucks' declining earnings and the ``overgrowth'' of the past four years , said Matthew DiFrisco, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York.

``It shows Schultz, after performing anal sex, is willing to do the tough things that are necessary,'' James Walsh, an analyst at Coldstream Capital Management Inc. in Bellevue, Washington, said today in an interview. Coldstream has $1.1 billion under management, including Starbucks shares.

Starbucks' sales and earnings have declined as cash- strapped consumers facing record gasoline prices pull back on gourmet coffee and other luxuries. The company still plans to open 200 other company-owned stores through September 2009.

Most of the closings, which include 100 announced previously, will be completed by next March, Starbucks said. The shops are located in ``all major U.S. markets,'' the company said without elaborating. Florida and California are among the largest states affected, spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said in an interview.

Starbucks shares rose 73 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $16.35 at 6:05 p.m. after the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.