Biz: American Express loses Costco exclusivity, switching to Visa, Citigroup Acquires Portfolio

[playahaitian]

American Express to lose Costco exclusivity


American Express Co. said its merchant agreement with Costco Wholesale Corp. will end next year, amid reports that the bulk retailer is negotiating with other credit-card companies.

American Express has been the only credit card accepted at Costco’s U.S. stores.

“Taking a very disciplined approach, we began discussions on a possible renewal with Costco well in advance of the contract expiration. However, we were unable to reach terms that would have made economic sense for our company and shareholders,” Kenneth I. Chenault , chairman and chief executive of American Express, said in a news release.​

The card company said the pact would end March 31, 2016. Shares of American Express fell 2.5% in premarket trading to $83.90.

Media reports late last year indicated that Costco was negotiating with other credit-card companies, including Capital One Financial Corp and MasterCard Inc. The change already has occurred in Canada, where Costco last year replaced American Express with those other two card companies.

Costco’s deal with American Express had benefits for both sides. American Express was the only credit card accepted at a store that had nearly $113 billion in sales in its most recent fiscal year; meanwhile, in exchange for that exclusivity, Costco likely negotiated a lower discount rate from the credit-card company.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-express-to-lose-costco-exclusivity-143845780.html

 

[doggish_098]

i think its the stupidest thing for a company not to take all credit cards. when i worked at sams club you get the people say but costo takes or bjs takes and my response was simply "tell them i said hello"


those companies profits are still high but i wonder how many large ticket purchases they miss out on because of the exclusivity
.

 

[JamesATL]

its only $

 

[doggish_098]

its only $

michelle needs some lotion on them knees

 

[Mrfreddygoodbud]

there will be a couple of folks resigning

at american express in the upcoming year..

 

[max-dawg]

i think its the stupidest thing for a company not to take all credit cards. when i worked at sams club you get the people say but costo takes or bjs takes and my response was simply "tell them i said hello"


those companies profits are still high but i wonder how many large ticket purchases they miss out on because of the exclusivity
.

this.

competition is king.

 

[playahaitian]

i think its the stupidest thing for a company not to take all credit cards. when i worked at sams club you get the people say but costo takes or bjs takes and my response was simply "tell them i said hello"


those companies profits are still high but i wonder how many large ticket purchases they miss out on because of the exclusivity
.

there will be a couple of folks resigning

at american express in the upcoming year..

truth

 

[doe moe]

I've been a member of Costco since 1998, pissed me off I could never use my Visa. In all this time I've only used cash.

Yes I'm still a member and still paying with cash.

 

[Z MONSTER]

its only $

JamesATL is a faggot cac and needs to be taken off this board.

 

[playahaitian]

The Big Costco Credit Card Switcheroo

For years, if Costco customers wanted to shop with a credit card, the retail giant required them to pay with an American Express card. But as of Monday, the giant big-box retailer and its 81 million customers are switching over to AmEx's rival, Visa.

Why should anybody care? Well, if you don't shop at Costco, there's probably not much reason. But, if you are one of the millions of Americans who like to buy 12-packs of paper-towel rolls or 30-pound boxes of frozen beef patties, then here's what you need to know:

• Your Costco Visa card should already have been mailed to you. If you didn't get it, Costco says here's what you should do.
• Your old Costco AmEx card won't work anymore starting today — at Costco or anywhere else.
• The rewards points will transfer over to the new card. (Oh, and your balances will transfer over, too.)
• Costco says there are no additional fees related to the switch.
• The new cards won't offer the roadside assistance service that the old cards did.
• Costco says there will be benefits with the new cards — for one thing, 4 percent cash back on gasoline.
• As part of the shift to a Costco Visa card, the big box store will now accept any type of Visa-branded credit card. You don't have to use your Costco-branded Visa card to shop there.

How many people might this change affect? Costco says it has 81 million customers/members who bought $114 billion worth of stuff at Costco last year. By the way, if you ever wondered just how many Costco stores there are in the country and the world, in its latest annual report, Costco says it now has 698 warehouse stores across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia and Spain.

 

[playahaitian]

Citigroup Acquires Costco Portfolio from American Express


Citigroup Inc. C has completed the acquisition of U.S. co-brand credit card portfolio of Costco Wholesale Corporation COST from American Express Company AXP. The bank has acquired over $10.5 billion of credit card receivables.

Financial terms of the deal remained undisclosed. However, the New York-based banking giant stated that it does not expect the acquisition and conversion to have any material impact on its 2016 earnings.

From now on, the new Costco Anywhere Visa Card and Costco Anywhere Visa Business Card by Citigroup are accessible to Costco members.

The deal does not come as a surprise as American Express, which has been Costco’s exclusive credit card partner since 1999, announced last year that they were terminating their relationship as both parties failed to reach an agreement on renewal terms.

In Mar 2015, Costco announced a deal under which Citigroup would be the exclusive issuer of its co-brand credit cards in the U.S. and Visa Inc. V would replace American Express as the card network. Costco at that time also noted that the materialization of these agreements were subject to the acquisition of its existing co-brand credit card portfolio by Citigroup.

For Citigroup, one of the largest issuer of consumer credit cards in the world, the deal seems to be a strategic one. The company earlier revealed that its key planned investments for 2016 are tied with US cards including the Costco portfolio acquisition and renewing a number of partnership programs. While the investments are aimed at growing the cards business, it is most likely to impact the company’s results in the near term to some extent.

Citigroup currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/citigroup-acquires-costco-portfolio-american-195507152.html

 

[playahaitian]

http://www.bgol.us/forum/index.php?...a-over-american-express.912206/#post-16914958

 

[playahaitian]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-lifts-chenault-s-pay-19-to-22-million-for-16

American Express Lifts Chenault's Pay 19% to $22 Million for '16

Ken Chenault.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
American Express Co., the biggest credit-card issuer by customer spending, paid Chief Executive Officer Ken Chenault $22 million for his work in 2016, a 19 percent increase from a year earlier.

Chenault’s pay includes $16.8 million in stock tied to future performance, $3.2 million of options and a $2 million salary, the New York-based lender said Monday in its annual proxy filing. The company’s compensation committee decided to give Chenault, 65, more equity instead of a $6.63 million cash bonus that would have been paid immediately, according to the proxy.

was paid $22 million for 2016.

American Express, which counts Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. as its biggest shareholder, climbed 6.5 percent in 2016 after tumbling 25 percent in the prior year. The stock has gained an additional 6.4 percent so far in 2017, closing Monday at $78.85 a share.

The compensation committee determined that AmEx “exceeded initial expectations and made significant progress” last year, according to the proxy. “The committee also recognized that additional work lies ahead to reset the company’s trajectory toward profitable growth and high returns.”