City profiles

Howard Schultz The Starbucks executive chairman is stepping down, said the FT – marking the end of a 35-year run during which he turned a 20-person Seattle firm into the world’s largest coffee chain. Next step, US president? Howard Schultz, 64, has hinted strongly that he is thinking of running as the Democratic challenger in 2020. His left-wing views have “deep roots” in his Brooklyn childhood; he grew up on a housing project. But, said Christopher Matthews on Dealbreaker, the idea of a presidential run is madness. Schultz was one of the US’S “most visibly progressive CEOS”, who has offered lowskilled workers educational subsidies and family leave. But his $2.8bn fortune would make him poisonous to the Democrats’ key constituency – the working poor. Schultz has nothing to offer but “money and baggage”. The oft-criticised Serious Fraud Office has turned to a former FBI lawyer to shake things up, said The Times. Lisa Osofsky, 56, has promised a “tough and uncompromising approach” when she takes over at the agency in September – and she certainly seems to have the CV for it. Having started out as a “federal prosecutor on the mean streets of Chicago”, she has spent nearly 30 years fighting white-collar crime, doing stints as an anti-money laundering officer at Goldman Sachs and a corporate investigator for Control Risks. She says she leaves no stone unturned. Lawyers will be watching for Us-style tactics, said the FT, such as “flipping” highranking suspects in return for immunity from prosecution.