Starbucks Coffee Co.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company is teaming up with the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN)  to launch a “Create Jobs for USA” fund. 

Starting Nov.1, the new initiative will pool donations from Starbucks customers, partners (employees) and citizens into a nationwide fund for community business lending. One-hundred percent of the donations will go toward loans for firms and organizations that can add jobs or stem job losses, Starbucks said. 

New York City -- Starbucks Coffee Co. plans to expand in Latin America after concentrating in recent past years more on Asia, founder and CEO Howard Schultz said at a presentation in Madrid, Bloomberg reported.

The chain as about $2 billion in cash to invest in an “aggressive and opportunistic way,” Schultz said, and is especially interested in Brazil, according to the report.

By Jonathan Cobb, [email protected]

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has never shied away from supporting causes he believes in. But he has really gone on the offensive with his latest passions: political gridlock and the jobs crisis.

Seattle -- Seattle's Best Coffee, which is owned by Starbucks, has opened 12 stores since April, bringing it to almost 100 locations in the United States and Canada. The expansion reflects the chain’s strategy to build upon the brand’s broad distribution network of franchised locations, company-operated stores, relationships with restaurant chains, and foodservice locations.

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. agreed to pay nearly $1.6 million to cafe managers and their lawyers to settle a dispute concerning overtime pay, the Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 in U.S. District Court in South Florida by a former Starbucks employee and covered roughly 550 managers.

New York City -- Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, cancelled a speech he was to give Friday at The Global Leadership Summit, an annual leadership summit organized by megachurch Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Ill., after an online petition condemned the congregation as anti-gay. The church denies the charges.

The annual event draws tens of thousands of viewers via satellite. Past speakers have included former GE's Jack Welch former president Bill Clinton.

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. reported Thursday that it scored record results in the quarter ended July 3, prompting the retailer to accelerate its 2012 new store opening targets to 800 net new stores globally.

Starbucks grew profits 34% in the third quarter, to $279 million from $208 million in the year-ago period. Sales rose 12% to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion, topping Wall Street estimates.

Same-store sales globally surged 8%, buoyed by a 6% increase in traffic and a 2% increase in average ticket.