City profiles
David Schwimmer The new boss of the London Stock Exchange has the same name as the actor who played Ross in the sitcom Friends, says Lex in the FT. Not much is known about him in the City, “but we have no reason to believe he ever fancied Rachel, dressed up as an armadillo or kept a pet monkey”. An American former Goldman Sachs banker, Schwimmer, 49, joins after a damaging spat between the exchange’s previous boss, Frenchman Xavier Rolet, and its chairman, Donald Brydon. Schwimmer’s first task is to “bring harmony where there was discord”, but the “broader mission” is to capitalise on his predecessor’s legacy: Rolet turned the LSE “from a minnow into a £15bn European market powerhouse”. There’s a sense of déjà vu at Korean Air, where shares dropped sharply last week after an incident involving the boss’s daughter, says Richard Lloyd Parry in The Times. Cho Hyun-min, also known as Emily Cho, has apologised for “hurling water at an advertising executive” after a disagreement over a TV commercial. Investors fear the case could acquire the dimensions of the “nut rage” fiasco that ensued in 2014 when Emily’s sister, Heather, received a suspended prison sentence “for attacking airline staff because they served her snack in the wrong way”. That case became “a national scandal” – symbolic of the resentment many Koreans feel towards the country’s “chaebols” (conglomerates). Cho has been suspended from her marketing role and police in Seoul are investigating.