There's never an easy time to change leaders, but for American Express it's a particularly challenging time as it faces legal challenges to a core part of its fee structure and is still revamping its business model after a stinging client loss.
Longtime CEO Ken Chenault, 66, will retire at yearend after 17 years as CEO. He will be succeeded by Stephen J. Squeri, Amex's vice chairman who was previously the group president of Amex's global corporate services group.
Squeri's being thrown into the deep end right away. Amex is adding mobile-driven services to offset the loss of its
Amex has responded to the Costco loss through a focus on
As it preps for its Supreme Court case, Amex will have to convince the justices that its anti-steering rules do not harm competition. The need to make the argument again was unexpected, given that a lower appeals court had dismissed the Department of Justice's case in an earlier ruling.
Amex did not return a request for comment. “We are completing a two-year turnaround ahead of plan with strong revenue and earnings growth across all of our business segments,” Chenault said in a release. “We’ve added new products and benefits, acquired record numbers of new customers, expanded our merchant network and lowered operating costs. We’ve dealt effectively with competitive challenges and redesigned our marketing, customer service and risk management capabilities for the digital age.”
