BUSINESS BRIEFING / COFFEE

A former Starbucks Corp. executive who left to accept a job with rival Dunkin’ Donuts agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused him of violating a non-competition agreement, Starbucks said.

The executive, Paul Twohig of Hilton Head, S.C., also promised not to share Starbucks trade secrets or other confidential information with his new employer, a division of Dunkin’ Brands Inc. of Canton, Mass., or to start work before Jan. 15, Starbucks said.

Twohig is in training until he can “assume leadership of our operations team beginning Jan. 15,” Andrew Mastrangelo, a spokesman for Dunkin’ Donuts, said in an e-mail.