HOWARD SCHULTZ

Equilar, an executive compensation data firm, has compiled a list of 2012's highest paid CEOs.

Starbucks plans to open at least 3,000 stores over the next five years in the Americas, half in the U.S.

Starbucks plans to build 1,500 stores amid booming profits and massive expansion.

Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) is now officially accepting mobile payments through Square following a $25 million investment it made in the startup last August.

Online auctioneer eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) will team with Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) to offer electronic payments in as many as seven million U.S. outlets next year, the companies announced. The move is intended to spur e-payments among users of smartphones.

Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX), the No. 1 chain of coffee shops, said it had invested $25 million in Square, the start-up specialist in mobile payments, which values the company at $3.25 billion.

Starbucks Corp wants to make its mainland China expansion a family affair.

Starbucks Corp has ambitious expansion plans in China, but like any big new emerging market there are teething problems, not least of which is that customers love it so much they stay for hours and hours and sometimes don't even buy a drink.

Starbucks got a huge thank you from gay marriage supporters on Wednesday, in response to the company's policy in support of same-sex marriage.

Google Offers and Banana Republic are the first businesses to join Starbucks Corp in raising money for a U.S. job creation fund started by the world's biggest coffee chain late last year.

The take-home pay of U.S. chief executives grew at least 10 percent in 2011, propelled largely by a stock market rally, according to consultants' estimates.

Starbucks Corp said on Wednesday it would spend $180 million on U.S. factories, creating 150 manufacturing jobs, and that it would get into the $8 billion U.S. energy drink market with a new product.

Starbucks Corp is expanding into the fast-growing energy drink category and plans to add manufacturing jobs in the United States, the world's biggest coffee chain said on Wednesday.

Starbucks Corp will open the first store in its new Evolution Fresh juice bar chain on Monday, its biggest move outside coffee and one it hopes will boost the company's position in the $50 billion health food sector.

Starbucks Corp. (Nasdaq: SBUX), the world's biggest coffeehouse chain, plans to grab market share from Switzerland-based food giant Nestle SA in the area of instant coffee and increase the number of Starbucks stores in Germany to more than 1,000 from 150, the Financial Times Deutschland reported Friday.

U.S.-based Starbucks Corp is planning to strengthen its presence in Europe and grab market share from Switzerland's Nestle in the area of instant coffee, its chief executive told a German newspaper.

Pinkberry co-founder Young Lee on Monday pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, stemming from a confrontation with a panhandler that police say ended with Lee hitting the man with a tire iron.

Starbucks, the world's largest coffee-shop chain, is projected to report stronger fiscal first-quarter profit as sales of new offerings have offset higher costs for coffee beans.

Popular coffee chain, Starbucks, is offering free samples to U.S. customers until Saturday in an effort to promote their newest roast. The company's latest blend, the blonde roast, debuted Tuesday in stores and supermarkets across America. Consumers will have a chance to taste the new blonde roast from Jan. 12 to Jan. 14 in the U.S.

Starbucks Corp is expanding beyond its dark coffee roots by offering lighter Blonde roasts in cafes and supermarkets as of Tuesday.

Starbucks Corp. said it plans to open a health and wellness-focused chain next year after its acquisition of Evolution Fresh, a California-based premium juice maker, for $30 million.