American Express

The American Express Company, also known as

Amex, is an American multinational nancial services
corporation headquartered in Manhattan's Three World
Financial Center in New York City, United States.
Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of
the Dow Jones Industrial Average.[6] The company is
best known for its credit card, charge card, and travelers
cheque businesses. Amex cards account for approximately 24% of the total dollar volume of credit card transactions in the US.[7][8]

a building at the intersection of Jay Street and Hudson

Street in what was later called the Tribeca section of Manhattan. For years it enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the
movement of express shipments (goods, securities, currency, etc.) throughout New York State. In 1874, American Express moved its headquarters to 65 Broadway in
what was becoming the Financial District of Manhattan,
a location it was to retain through two buildings.[13]

1.1 American Express buildings

BusinessWeek and Interbrand ranked American Express

as the 22nd most valuable brand in the world, estimating
In 1854, the American Express Co. purchased a lot on
the brand to be worth US$14.97 billion.[9] Fortune listed
Vesey Street in New York City as the site for its stables.
Amex as one of the top 20 Most Admired Companies in
The companys rst New York headquarters was an 1858
the World.[10]
marble Italianate palazzo at 5561 Hudson Street, which
The companys logo, adopted in 1958, is a Centurion[11] had a busy freight depot on the ground story with a spur
whose image appears on the companys travelers line from the Hudson River Railroad. A stable was concheques, charge cards and credit cards.
structed in 1867, ve blocks north at 48 Hubert Street.

The company prospered suciently that headquarters

were moved in 1874 from the wholesale shipping district to the budding Financial District, and into rented ofces in two ve-story brownstone commercial buildings
at 63 and 65 Broadway that were owned by the Harmony
family.[14]

Early history

In 1880, American Express built a new warehouse behind the Broadway Building at 46 Trinity Place. The designer is unknown, but it has a faade of brick arches that
are redolent of pre-skyscraper New York. American Express has long been out of this building, but it still bears
a terracotta seal with the American Express Eagle.[15] In
189091 the company constructed a new ten-story building by Edward H. Kendall on the site of its former headquarters on Hudson Street.
By 1903, the company had assets of some $28 million,
second only to the National City Bank of New York
among nancial institutions in the city. To reect this, the
In 1850, American Express was started as an express company purchased the Broadway buildings and site.[14]
mail business in Bualo, New York.[12] It was founded At the end of the Wells-Fargo reign in 1914, an aggressive
as a joint stock corporation by the merger of the express new president, George Chadbourne Taylor (18681923),
companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), who had worked his way up through the company over the
William G. Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and previous thirty years, decided to build a new headquarJohn Warren Buttereld (Wells, Buttereld & Company, ters. The old buildings, dubbed by the New York Times
the successor earlier in 1850 of Buttereld, Wasson & as among the ancient landmarks of lower Broadway,
Company).[2][3] Wells and Fargo also started Wells Fargo were inadequate for such a rapidly expanding concern.
& Co. in 1852 when Buttereld and other directors ob- After some delays due to the war in Europe, the 21-story
jected to the proposal that American Express extend its neo-classical American Express Co. Building was conoperations to California.
structed in 191617 to the design of James L. Aspinwall,
American Express Co. shipping receipt, New York City to St.
Louis, MO (August 6, 1860)

American Express initially established its headquarters in of the rm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker, the suc1

1 EARLY HISTORY
$10, $20, $50, and $100.[17]
Travelers cheques established American Express as a
truly international company. In 1914, at the onset of
World War I, American Express in Europe was among
the few companies to honor the letters of credit (issued
by various banks) held by Americans in Europe, because
other nancial institutions refused to assist these stranded
travelers.

1.4 Loss of railroad express business

American Express became one of the monopolies that
President Theodore Roosevelt had the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) investigate during his administration. The interest of the ICC was drawn to its strict
control of the railroad express business. However, the socessor to the architectural practice of the eminent James
lution did not come immediately to hand.[13] The solution
Renwick, Jr.. The building consolidated the two lots of
to this problem came as a coincidence to other problems
the former buildings with a single address: 65 Broadway.
during World War I.
This building was part of the Express Row section of
lower Broadway at the time. The building completed the During the winter of 1917, the United States suered
continuous masonry wall of its block-front and assisted in a severe coal shortage and on December 26 President
transforming Broadway into the canyon of neo-classical Woodrow Wilson commandeered the railroads on behalf
of the United States government to move federal troops,
masonry oce towers familiar to this day[16]
their supplies, and coal. Treasury Secretary William
American Express sold this building in 1975, but retained
Gibbs McAdoo was assigned the task of consolidating
travel services there. The building was also the headthe railway lines for the war eort. All contracts bequarters over the years of other prominent rms, includtween express companies and railroads were nullied and
ing investment bankers J.& W. Seligman & Co. (1940
McAdoo proposed that all existing express companies be
74), the American Bureau of Shipping, a maritime conconsolidated into a single company to serve the countrys
cern (197786), and currently J.J. Kenny, and Standard
needs. This ended American Expresss express business,
[14][16]
& Poors, who has renamed the building for itself.
and removed them from the ICCs interest. The result
was that a new company called the American Railway Express Agency formed in July 1918. The new entity took
1.2 Nationwide expansion
custody of all the pooled equipment and property of existAmerican Express extended its reach nationwide by ar- ing express companies (the largest share of which, 40%,
ranging aliations with other express companies (includ- came from American Express, who had owned the rights
ing Wells Fargo the replacement for the two former to the express business over 71,280 miles (114,710 km)
companies that merged to form American Express), rail- of railroad lines, and had 10,000 oces, with over 30,000
employees).
roads, and steamship companies.[13]
The American Express Company Building at 65 Broadway the
former headquarters of the American Express Company

1.3

Financial services

In 1882, American Express started its expansion in the

area of nancial services by launching a money order
business[13] to compete with the United States Post Ofce's money orders.

1.5 Investment banking

During the 1980s, American Express embarked on an

eort to become a nancial services supercompany and
made a number of acquisitions to create an investment
banking arm. In mid-1981 it purchased Sanford I. Weill's
Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip Shearson Loeb Rhoades, the second largest securities
to Europe and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite rm in the United States to form Shearson/American Exthe fact that he was president of American Express and press.
that he carried with him traditional letters of credit, he After the purchase of Shearson, Weill was given the pofound it dicult to obtain cash anywhere except in ma- sition of president of American Express in 1983. Weill
jor cities. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and grew increasingly unhappy with responsibilities within
asked him to create a better solution than the letter of American Express and his conicts with American Excredit. Berry introduced the American Express Travelers press CEO James D. Robinson III. Weill soon realized
Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of that he was not positioned to be named CEO and left in

2.1

Charge card services

2.1 Charge card services

Shearson Lehman logo

August 1985. In 1984, American Express acquired the

investment banking and trading rm, Lehman Brothers
Kuhn Loeb, and added it to the Shearson family, creating
Shearson Lehman/American Express. It was Lehmans American Express Tower (tallest, left) in New York City
CEO and former trader Lewis Glucksman who would
American Express executives discussed the possibility of
next lead Shearson Lehman/American Express.
launching a travel charge card as early as 1946, but it was
In 1984, Shearson/American Express purchased the 90- not until Diners Club launched their card in March 1950
year-old Investors Diversied Services, bringing with it that American Express began seriously to consider the
a eet of nancial advisors and investment products. In possibility. At the end of 1957, American Express CEO
1988, Shearson Lehman acquired E.F. Hutton & Co., a Ralph Reed decided to get into the card business, and by
brokerage rm founded in 1904, this was merged with the the launch date of October 1, 1958 public interest had beinvestment banking business and the investment banking come so signicant that they issued 250,000 cards prior
arm was renamed Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc.[18]
to the ocial launch date. The card was launched with
However, when Harvey Golub became CEO of Ameri- an annual fee of $6, $1 higher than Diners Club, to be
can Express in 1993, American Express decided to get seen as a premium product. The rst cards were paper,
out of the investment banking business and negotiated with the account number and cardmembers name typed.
the sale of Shearsons retail brokerage and asset manage- It was not until 1959 that American Express began isment business to Primerica. The Shearson business was suing embossed ISO/IEC 7810 plastic cards, an industry
merged with Primericas Smith Barney to create Smith rst.[20]
Barney Shearson. Ultimately, the Shearson name was In 1966, American Express introduced the Gold Card
dropped in 1994.[19]
and in 1984 the Platinum Card, clearly dening dierIn 1994, American Express spun o of the remaining investment banking and institutional businesses as Lehman
Brothers Holdings Inc. After almost fteen years of independence, Lehman Brothers led for bankruptcy protection in 2008 as part of the late2000s nancial crisis.

Recent history

ent market segments within its own business, a practice

that has proliferated across a broad array of industries.
The Platinum Card was billed as super-exclusive and had
a $250 annual fee (it is currently $450). It was oered
by invitation only to American Express customers with
at least 2 years of tenure, signicant spending, and excellent payment history; it is now open to applications on
request.

In 1987, American Express introduced the Optima card,

their rst credit card product. Previously, all American
Current CEO Ken I. Chenault took over leadership of Express cards had to be paid in full each month, but OpAmerican Express in 2001 from Harvey Golub, CEO tima allowed customers to carry a balance (the charge
from 1993 to 2001. Prior to that, the company was cards also now allow extended payment options on qualheaded by James D. Robinson III from 1977 to 1993.
ifying charges based on credit availability). Although

4
American Express no longer accepts applications for the
Optima brand of cards, since July 13, 2009, Optima cards
are still listed on the American Express website, as a reference to existing members only. According to American
Express, Optima accounts were not converted or closed.
However, Blue from American Express has prevailed as
the replacement for the original Optima style of credit
card. Blue includes multiple benets free of charge, unlike Optima, including the Membership Rewards program. In October 2012, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced an enforcement action with orders requiring three American Express subsidiaries to refund an estimated $85 million to approximately 250,000 customers for illegal card practices. This
action was the result of a multi-part federal investigation
which found that at every stage of the consumer experience, from marketing to enrollment to payment to debt
collection, American Express violated consumer protection laws. American Express sent letters to some previous
customers: We invite you to apply for the Optima Card
from American Express. This opportunity is in connection with a settlement solicitation, which did not clearly
disclose that a settlement could prevent you from being
approved for a new account with us in the future. This
is in response to an enforcement action by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation and Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau regarding this issue. Your attached application will be approved unless we determine that you
do not have the nancial capacity to make the minimum
payment on this new Optima Card account, or we receive
the application after 04/25/2013.
In April 1992, American Express spun o its subsidiary,
First Data Corp., in an IPO. Then, in October 1996, the
company distributed the remaining majority of its holdings in First Data Corp., reducing its ownership to less
than 5%.

RECENT HISTORY

to American Express fees at the time (which were about

4% for each transaction versus around 1.2% at the time
for Visa and MasterCard). A few even stopped accepting
American Express credit and charge cards. The revolt,
known as the Boston Fee Party (alluding to the Boston
Tea Party), was orchestrated by a PR rm hired and paid
by Discover Card. The campaign spread to over 250
restaurants across the United States, including restaurants
in other cities such as New York City, Chicago, and Los
Angeles. In response, American Express reduced its discount rate gradually to compete more eectively and add
new merchants such as supermarkets and drugstores to
its network. Many elements of the exclusive acceptance
program were also phased out and American Express pursued other programs to eectively encourage businesses
to add American Express cards to their existing list of
payment options.

2.3 Cable TV
American Express formed a venture with Warner Communications in 1979 called Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which created MTV, Nickelodeon, and The
Movie Channel. The partnership lasted only until 1984.
The properties were sold to Viacom soon after.

2.4 Conversion to bank holding company

On November 10, 2008, during the nancial crisis of
2008, the company won Federal Reserve System approval
to convert to a bank holding company, making it eligible for government help under the Troubled Asset Relief
Program.[1][21] At that time, American Express had total consolidated assets of about $127 billion.[21] In June
2009, $3.39 billion in TARP funds were repaid plus $74.4
million in dividend payments.

In 1994, the Optima True Grace card was introduced.

The card was unique in that it oered a grace period on
by
all purchases whether a balance was carried on the card In July 2009, they ended their obligations under TARP
[22][23][24]
buying
back
$340
million
in
Treasury
warrants.
or not (as opposed to traditional revolving credit cards
which charge interest on new purchases if so much as $1
was carried over). The card was discontinued a few years
later; the now discontinued One from American Express 2.5 Controversy in the UK
card oered a similar feature called Interest Protection.
In November 2010, the UK division of American Express
was cautioned by the Oce of Fair Trading for the use
of controversial charging orders against those in debt.[25]
2.2 Boston Fee Party
The regulator said that the company was one of four comFrom early 1980s until the early 1990s, American Ex- panies who were encouraging customers to turn their unpress was known for cutting its merchant fees (also known secured credit card debts into a form of secured debt.
as a discount rate) to merchants and restaurants if they
accepted only American Express and no other credit
or charge cards. This prompted competitors such as 2.6 Acquisition of Loyalty Partner (2011)
Visa and MasterCard to cry foul for a while as the tactics locked restaurants into American Express. The In March 2011, American Express completed the $685
practice ended in 1991, as several restaurants in Boston million acquisition of Munich-based Loyalty Partner, opstarted accepting and encouraging the use of Visa and erator of the Payback loyalty program in Germany and
MasterCard because of their far lower fees as compared Poland and the i-Mint loyalty program in India.[26]

2.7

Costco TrueEarnings card

The TrueEarnings Costco-American Express card and

Costco-American Express business card, promoted in
Costco stores, was issued between 2004 and 2016. The
cards did not have annual fees and oered cash back on
certain tiers of purchases. The TrueEarnings card was
an extension of an exclusive credit card network deal between Costco and American Express dating to 1999.
On February 12, 2015, it was announced that the partnership between American Express and Costco would
dissolve March 31, 2016, which was later extended to
June 19, 2016. American Express and Costco failed
to reach an agreement that would have continued their
partnership. By March 2, 2015, Costco announced that
Citigroup would become the exclusive issuer of Costcos
credit cards and that Visa Inc. would replace American
Express as the exclusive credit card network accepted at
Costcos stores. The Costco deal with Visa began on June
20, 2016, and in addition to the new Citi card, Costco accepted all other Visa cards.[27][28] All TrueEarnings card
accounts and balances held by American Express were
sold to Citigroup, and new Costco Anywhere Visa cards
were sent to Costco members prior to the switch date.
Concurrent with the switch to Visa in their stores, Costco
no longer accepted American Express in their US stores,
at Costco.com, or through Costco Travel.

card transactions for a merchant, including crediting

the merchants account for the value charged to a
credit card less all fees.
2. Issuing bank: the bank which issues the consumers
credit card. This is the bank a consumer is responsible for repaying after making a credit card purchase.
The issuers share of the merchant discount is known
as the interchange fee.
3. Network: the link between acquiring banks and issuing banks. These banks have relationships with
a network, rather than with each other, for fullling card purchases. This allows a card issued by
a community bank in Peru to be used at a shop
in South Africa, for instance, without requiring the
banks to have a direct relationship with each other.
The two largest networks in the world are Visa and
MasterCard. American Express operates its own
network.
The average merchant discount in the United States is
1.9%. Of this, approximately 0.1% goes to the acquirer,
1.7% to the issuer, and 0.09% to the network.[29]

Most Prime and Superprime card issuers use the majority

of their interchange revenue to fund loyalty programs like
frequent yer points and cash back, and hence their prot
from card spending is small relative to the interest they
Costco was the last major US merchant that exclusively earn from card lending.
accepted American Express for general-purpose credit
cards. In November 2011, Neiman Marcus, which gave
similar general-purpose card exclusivity to American Ex- 4 Card products
press since 1987, began accepting Visa and Mastercard.
Costcos Canadian stores had ended their exclusive deal
Express currently has over 109.9 million
with American Express in 2014 in favor of one with American
[30]
cards
running
on its proprietary network, these inCapital One and Mastercard. However, the deal with
clude
consumer,
small
business and corporate cards isCapital One was dierent from the Citi deal because Capsued
by
American
Express
themselves and cards issued
ital One did not buy accounts and balances from Amerby
its
Global
Service
Network
partners that run on its netican Express. This required Costco Canada members to
work
(such
as
Commonwealth
Bank, Westpac and NAB
obtain new cards.
in Australia and Lloyds Bank and Barclays Bank in the
The Costco partnership represented 8%, or $80 billion, UK).
of AmExs billed business and about 20%, or about $14
card issuer in the
billion, of its interest-bearing credit portfolio, according American Express is also the largest
[31]
world
based
on
purchase
volume.
It
is the 4th largest
[28]
to Richard Shane of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
card network in the world, based on the number of cards
it has in circulation.[32]

Business model
4.1 Consumer cards

3.1

Typical credit card business model

See also: Centurion Card, American Express Red,

Accolades Card, and ExpressPay

When a consumer makes a purchase using a credit or

charge card, a small portion of the price is paid as a
fee (known as the merchant discount), with the merchant American Express is best known for its iconic Green,
keeping the remainder. There are typically three parties Gold, and Platinum charge cards, and oers credit cards
of similar color levels in most countries.
who split this fee amongst themselves:
In the 1950s, American Express issued its rst charge
1. Acquiring bank: the bank which processes credit card, which caught on quickly in the booming postwar

CARD PRODUCTS

adopted the 1979 UK Synthpop hit "Cars" by Gary Numan as its theme song. Based on a successful product for
the European market, Blue had no annual fee, a rewards
program, and a multi-functional onboard smart chip. A
cashback version, Blue Cash, quickly followed. Amex
also targeted young adults with City Reward Cards that
earn INSIDE Rewards points to eat, drink, and play at
New York, Chicago and LA hot spots. American Express began phasing out the INSIDE cards in mid-2008,
with no new applications being taken as of July 2008.

An advertisement for the Platinum Card in Hong Kong

In 2005, American Express introduced Clear, advertised

as the rst credit card with no fees of any kind. Other
cards introduced in 2005 included The Knot and The
Nest Credit Cards from American Express, co-branded
cards developed with the wedding planning website theknot.com.

economy and signaled the companys transition to a wider

consumer base. In 1966, the company issued its rst gold
card, in an eort to cater to the upper echelon of business
travel. Its platinum card debuted in 1984 and continues
to be immensely popular as it is second in exclusivity only
to the Centurion Card.

In 2006, the UK division of American Express joined

the Product Red coalition and began to issue a Red
Card. With each card member purchase the company
contributes to causes through The Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to help African women
and children suering from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and
In 1999, American Express introduced the Centurion other diseases.
Card, often referred to as the black card, which caters In 2009, American Express introduced the ZYNC charge
to an even more auent and elite customer segment. The card. White in color, this card was created for people in
card was initially available only to select users of the Plat- their 20s and 30s. American Express is no longer taking
inum card. The annual fee for the card is $2,500 (up from applications for the ZYNC charge card.
$1,000 at introduction) with an additional one-time initiIn late 2012, American Express and Walmart announced
ation fee of $7,500. American Express created the card
the launch of Bluebird, a prepaid debit card similar to that
line amid rumors and urban legends in the 1980s that it
of Green Dot.[34] Bluebird is being touted as having some
produced an ultra-exclusive black card for elite users who
of the benets of traditional American Express cards,
could purchase anything with it.[33]
such as roadside assistance and identity theft protection.
American Express cards range between no annual fee (for The card can also be used as a substitute to a traditional
Blue and many other consumer and business cards) and a checking account. Unlike other such cards, Bluebird is
$450 annual fee (for the Platinum card). Annual fees for FDIC-insured.[35] Bluebird accounts have standard FDIC
the Green card start at $95 (rst year free), while Gold deposit insurance and check writing capabilities, and cuscard annual fees start at $125.
tomers can now have Social Security payments, military
American Express has several co-branded credit cards, pay, Tax Return, paycheck and other government benets
deposited directly into their accounts.
with most falling into one of three categories:
Airlines: e.g., Aerolineas Argentinas, Air Canada,
Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Cathay
Pacic, Delta Air Lines, Icelandair, KLM,
Qantas, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin
Australia, among others.
Hotels: e.g., Best Western, Hilton Hotels. Starwood
Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Retailers: e.g., David Jones, Holt Renfrew, Harrods,
Macys, Bloomingdales, Lowes, Mercedes Benz,
and others.
Their card aimed at young adults is called Blue from
American Express. A television media campaign for Blue

American Express credit cards are noted by travel guides,

including Rough Guides and Lonely Planet, as being less commonly accepted in Europe than Visa or
MasterCard.[36][37][38][39] In an interview with an American Express spokesman in 2010 about card acceptance in
the UK, the Daily Mail's nancial website ThisIsMoney
noted that The list of places that are taking Amex appears to be growing, rather than slowing, but it seems
to be a little hit-and-miss. Its not a good feeling to enter a shop, not knowing whether or not they accept the
card.[40] As of February 2016 American Express is one
of the partner banks to both Google and Apple's mobile wallet systems (Android Pay and Apple Pay, respectively) meaning that cardholders can use their American
Express-issued cards to pay at establishments where NFC
payments are accepted.[41]

4.3

4.2

Small business services (also known as American Express OPEN)

Card design

The company mascot, the Roman Gladiator or Centurion,

appears at the center of the iconic Zync, Green, Gold,
Platinum, and Centurion cards. The gure and his pose
evoke classical antiquity. These cards also feature intricate border and background designs that read American Express. The designs on these cards, especially the
Green card, bear resemblance to those on United States
Federal Reserve Notes.

transactions are completed by holding the credit card near

a receiver at which point the debt is immediately added to
the account. All three contactless systems use the same
logo. The card is not swiped or inserted into a smart
card reader and no PIN is entered. Many U.S. merchant
and restaurant partners now oer ExpressPay, including
Meijer, CVS/Pharmacy, Best Buy, Chevron Corporation,
Noahs Bagels, and some McDonalds locations. Oce
Depot has implemented ExpressPay in all 1200 of its
stores.[42]

4.2.1

American Express also issue EMV compatible ExpressPay cards in many countries.[43]

ExpressPay

Some notable users of contactless payment include Australia and the UK where contactless (tap and go) is used
almost 10 times as often in Australia and almost 5 times
more often in the United Kingdom on a per capita basis
compared to the United States.[44]

4.3 Small business services (also known as

American Express OPEN)
For more details on this topic, see American Express
Plum Card.
American Express oers various types of charge cards
for small businesses to manage their expenses, and the
company is also the largest provider of corporate cards.
In late 2007, the company announced the new Plum Card
as the latest addition to their card line for small business
owners.[45] The card provides a 1.5% early pay discount
or up to two months to defer payment on purchases. The
1.5% discount is available for billing periods where the
cardmember spends at least $5,000. The rst 10,000
cards were issued to members on December 16, 2007.[46]
In 2008, American Express made a decision to close all
Business Line of Credit accounts. This decision was
reached in tandem with the Federal Reserves approval
of American Expresss request to become a Commercial
Bank.

A Platinum American Express Charge Card issued in the UK that

is contactless enabled

In 2005, American Express introduced ExpressPay, similar to MasterCard PayPass and Visa payWave, all of
which use the symbol appearing on the right. It is a contactless payment system based on wireless RFID, where

As of July 2016, American Express has several credit

cards designed for small business.[47] These include SimplyCash Plus Business Credit Card. Cash back earned
is automatically credited to the cardholders statement
and other benets are included.[47] Other cards include
the Business Platinum Card from American Express
OPEN, the Business Gold Rewards Card from American
Express OPEN, the Blue for Business Credit Card from
American Express, Business Green Rewards Card from
American Express OPEN, the Business Green Rewards
Card from American Express OPEN and the Plum Card
from American Express OPEN.[47] These cards have return protection, year-end summaries and other tools to
help with the business accounting and control.[47]

4.4

Commercial cards and services

In 2008, American Express acquired the Corporate Payment Services business of GE, which primarily focused
on providing Purchasing Card solutions for large global
clients.[48] As part of the $1b+ transaction, American Express also added a new product, called V-Payment, to its
product portfolio. V-Payment is unique in that it enables
a tightly controlled, single-use card number for increased
control.

CARD PRODUCTS

the corporation.[53]

4.5 Non-proprietary cards

In December 2000, American Express agreed to acquire the US$226 million credit card portfolio of Bank
of Hawaii, then a division of Pacic Century Finan[54]
In January 2006, American Express sold
As of July 2016, American Express oered several busi- cial Corp.
ness, corporate and travel credit and charge cards and ser- its Bank of Hawaii card portfolio to Bank of America
vices and data and information services related to their (MBNA). Bank of America will issue Visa and American Express cards under the Bank of Hawaii name.
use in the competitive markets for these cards.[49]
The online American Express @ Work function gives
corporations a site on which to apply for, cancel or
suspend cards, monitor policy compliance and track
expenses. The cardholder company can create and
generate reports for a corporate expense account program, including analytics and data consolidation or
integration.[50][51] Reports can be tailored for various
sized companies. Through a Standard Expense Reporting
feature in its Manage Your Card Account site, American Express corporate cards provide cardholders access
to pre-populated expense reports. The cardholder needs
to annotate expenses and add out-of-pocket charges upon
completion of which the report can be downloaded in
electronic or paper format.[50]
American Express Corporate Card program can be used
with a third-party on-demand expense management tool
by Concur, a provider of integrated travel and expense
management services.[50] This tool simplies the creation
of expense account reports and the corporate approval
process.[50] Corporate card activity, including viewing
statements, making payments, setting up alerts and making inquiries and disputing charges, can be managed
through an account online or via mobile device through
this service.[50]
The corporate cards have benets including discounts and
rebates for travel and transportation, travel and emergency help, travel insurance and baggage protection.[50]
Upgrades from the Corporate Green Card to the Corporate Gold Card or Corporate Platinum Card, although
subject to fees and terms and conditions, have several additional benets at each card level, such as free breakfast or late checkout at many hotels.[50] The American
Express/Business Extra Corporate Credit Card is aliated with American Airlines and provides a 4% rebate
on eligible American Airlines travel purchased with the
card.[50]
American Express has a specialized corporate meeting
credit card.[52] Another specialized American Express
business card is the American Express Corporate Purchasing Card, which can be assigned to individual employees or departments. Reconciliation and accounting
services are available to make these functions easier for

Until 2004, Visa and MasterCard rules prohibited issuers

of their cards from issuing American Express cards in the
United States. This meant, as a practical matter, that U.S.
banks could not issue American Express cards. These
rules were struck down as a result of antitrust litigation
brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, and are no
longer in eect.[55] In January 2004, American Express
reached a deal to have its cards issued by a U.S. bank,
MBNA America.[56] Initially decried by MasterCard executives as nothing but an experiment, these cards were
released in October 2004.[57] Some said that the relationship was going to be threatened by MBNAs merger with
Bank of America, a major Visa issuer and original developer of Visa (and its predecessor, BankAmericard).
However, an agreement was reached between American
Express and Bank of America on December 21, 2005.[58]
Under the terms of the agreement, Bank of America will
own the customer loans and American Express will process the transactions. Also, American Express will dismiss Bank of America from its antitrust litigation against
Visa, MasterCard, and a number of U.S. banks. Finally, both Bank of America and American Express also
said an existing card-issuing partnership between MBNA
and American Express will continue after the Bank of
America-MBNA merger. The rst card from the partnership, the no-annual-fee Bank of America Rewards American Express card, was released on June 30, 2006.
Since then, Citibank, GE Money, and USAA have also
started issuing American Express cards. Citibank currently issues several American Express cards including
an American Airlines AAdvantage co-branded card.[58]
In January 2006[59] Amex issued Dillards American Express card in joint cooperation with GE Money, however,
in Mar 2008[60] GE sold its card unit to Amex for $1.1bn
in cash only deal.[48] HSBC Bank USA is currently testing both HSBC-branded and Neiman Marcus co-branded
American Express rewards credit cards, with a full rollout scheduled for late 2007 or early 2008. Also, UBS
launched its Resource Card program for US Wealth Management clients issuing Visa Signature credit cards and
American Express charge cards linked to their customers
accounts and employing a single rewards program for the
two cards.

5.3

4.6

Financial advisors

Merchant account

Many retailers do not accept American Express cards.[61]

American Express charges merchants signicantly higher
fees[62] than other credit card providers. In a court
case United States v. American Express Co., merchants
led a class action lawsuit against American Express[63]
and claimed that charging high fees is a violation of
the Sherman Antitrust Act.[64] According to the lawsuit,
accepting American Express cards costs merchants the
most.[65]

5
5.1

Non-card products
Travelers checks

Amex is the largest provider of travelers checks in the

world.

9
banking and trading rm, Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb,
and added it to the Shearson family, creating Shearson
Lehman/American Express. In 1988, the rm acquired
E. F. Hutton & Co., forming Shearson Lehman Hutton until 1990, when the rms name became Shearson
Lehman Brothers. When Harvey Golub took the reins
in 1993 he negotiated the sale of Shearsons retail brokerage and asset management business to Primerica and
in following year, spun o of the remaining investment
banking and institutional businesses as Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc.

5.3 Financial advisors

On September 30, 2005, American Express spun o
its American Express Financial Advisors unit as a publicly traded company, Ameriprise Financial, Inc..[66] Due
to this, American Express revenues for 2005 are down
around $5 billion, however, like-for-like they are up
10.5% in 2005. Also, on September 30, 2005, RSM
McGladrey acquired American Express Tax & Business
Services (TBS).[66]

In 2005, American Express released the American Express Travelers Check Card, a stored-value card that
serves the same purposes as a travelers check, but can be
used in stores like a credit card. The card has since been
discontinued as of October 31, 2007, due to changing
market conditions. All cardholders were issued refund On September 18, 2007, Standard Chartered Bank
agreed to acquire American Express Bank Ltd, a comchecks for the remaining balances.
mercial bank, from American Express Co,[67] for an estimated US$823 million, through a friendly divestiture
5.2 Shearson/American Express
process.[68][69][70][71][72]
See also: Shearson/American Express
During the 1980s, American Express began purchas-

5.4 Travel

Shearson/American Express logo c. 1982

ing stock brokerage rms as part of an expansion. In

mid-1981 it purchased Sanford I. Weill's Shearson Loeb
Rhoades, the second largest securities rm in the United
States to form Shearson/American Express. Shearson
Loeb Rhoades, itself was the culmination of several
mergers in the 1970s as Weills Hayden, Stone & Co.
merged with Shearson, Hammill & Co. in 1974 to form
Shearson Hayden Stone. Shearson Hayden Stone then
merged with Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co. (formerly Loeb, Rhoades & Co. to form Shearson Loeb
Rhoades in 1979. With capital totalling $250 million at
the time of its acquisition, Shearson Loeb Rhoades trailed
only Merrill Lynch as the securities industrys largest
brokerage rm. After its acquisition by American Express, the rm was renamed Shearson/American Express.
In 1984, Shearson/American Express purchased the 90year-old Investors Diversied Services, bringing with it
a eet of nancial advisors and investment products.
Also in 1984, American Express acquired the investment

American Express established a Travel Division in 1915

that tied together all of the earlier eorts at making travel
easier, and soon established its rst travel agencies. In
the 1930s, the Travel Division had grown widely. Albert
K. Dawson was instrumental in expanding business operations overseas, even investing in tourist relations with
the Soviet Union. Dawson during World War I had been
a photographer and lm correspondent with the German army. Today the focus of the Travel Division is on
business customers and business travel, that is, corporate
travel management.

5.5 Publishing
The American Express Publishing Corporation published
the Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Executive Travel,
Black Ink, and Departures magazines until October 1,
2013, when it sold those titles to Time Inc.[73] It publishes American Express Skyguide and is based in New
York City.[74] As of February 2014, Time Inc. is restructuring the portfolio of publications.[75]

10

5.6

Individual banking

ADVERTISING

6.3 My life. My card.

American Express FSB (federal savings bank) is a direct In late 2004, American Express launched the My
bank oering a standard savings account to individuals. life. My card. brand campaign (also by Ogilvy &
Checking account services are not provided.
Mather) featuring famous American Express cardmembers talking about their lives. The ads have featured
actors Kate Winslet, Robert De Niro, Ken Watanabe,
and Tina Fey; Duke University basketball coach Mike
6 Advertising
Krzyzewski; fashion designers Collette Dinnigan and
Diane von Frstenberg; comedian and talk show hostess Ellen DeGeneres; golfer Tiger Woods; professional
6.1 Don't Leave Home Without Them
snowboarder Shaun White; tennis pros Venus Williams
and Andy Roddick; Real Madrid manager Jos MourIn 1975, David Ogilvy of Ogilvy & Mather developed
inho; lm directors Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, and
the highly successful Don't Leave Home Without Them
M. Night Shyamalan; and most recently, singer Beyonc
ad campaign for American Express Travelers Cheques,
Knowles.
featuring Oscar-award-winning actor Karl Malden. Karl
Malden served as the public face of American Express
Travelers Cheques for 25 years. In the UK the spokesman
was the television personality Alan Whicker.
After Maldens departure, and as the card assumed importance over the travelers cheques, American Express
continued to use celebrities, such as Mel Blanc and ballerina Cynthia Gregory. A typical ad for the American
Express Card began with a celebrity asking viewers: Do
you know me?" Although he/she gave hints to his/her
identity, the stars name was never mentioned except as
imprinted on an American Express Card, after which announcer Peter Thomas told viewers how to apply for it.
Each ad concluded with the celebrity reminding viewers:
Don't Leave Home Without It. The Don't Leave Home
Without It slogan was revived in 2005 for the prepaid
American Express Travelers Cheque Card.

6.2

6.4 C F. Frost

Many American Express credit card ads feature a sample

American Express Card with the name C. F. Frost on
the front. This is not a fabricated name; Charles F. Frost
was an advertising executive at Ogilvy & Mather.[76]

6.5 Cause marketing

American Express was one of the earliest users of cause

marketing, to great success.[77] A 1983 promotion advertised that for each purchase made with an American
Express Card, American Express would contribute one
The Adventures of Seinfeld & Super- penny to the renovation of the Statue of Liberty. The
campaign generated contributions of $1.7 million to the
man
Statue of Liberty restoration project. What would soon
capture the attention of marketing departments of major
corporations was that the promotion generated approximately a 28% increase in American Express card usage
by consumers.
Building on its earlier promotion, American Express later
conducted a four-year Charge Against Hunger program,
which generated approximately $22 million for a charity
addressing poverty and hunger relief.

The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman

American Express continues to use celebrities in their

ads. Some notable examples include a late 1990s ad campaign with comedian Jerry Seinfeld, including the two
2004 webisodes in a series entitled "The Adventures of
Seinfeld & Superman.

In 2006, as part of Bonos Product Red, American Express launched the American Express Red Card with a
campaign starred by supermodel Gisele Bndchen. The
card, currently available only in the United Kingdom,
makes a donation to ght AIDS with every purchase made
using the card.
In May 2007, American Express launched an initiative
called the Members Project.[78][79] Cardholders were invited to submit ideas for projects, and were told American
Express was funding the winning project. The winner, a
provide clean drinking water project, received $2 million.

7.1

6.6

Oces

11

Animals

In April 1986, American Express moved its headquarters to the 51-story Three World Financial Center in New
In 2007, a two-minute black-and-white ad, entitled An- York City. After the events of September 11, 2001,
imals and starring Ellen DeGeneres, won the Emmy American Express had to leave its headquarters temporarily as it was located directly opposite to the World
Award for Outstanding Commercial.[80][81]
Trade Center and was damaged during the fall of the towers. The company began gradually moving back into its
rehabilitated building in 2002.

7.1

Workplace
Oces

Two rescue workers entering the American Express Tower following September 11 terrorist attack on World Trade Center.

The company also has major oces in Fort Lauderdale,

FL, Salt Lake City, UT, and Phoenix, AZ. It has a technology center in Weston, FL. The main data center is located in North Carolina.
AMEX Bank of Canada was founded in 1853 in Toronto,
however it currently has its headquarters of 3,000 employees in Markham, Ontario (a northern suburb of
Toronto), as well as an oce in Hamilton, Ontario. The
company began operations as a bank on July 1, 1990 following an order-in-council made by the Brian Mulroney
government on November 21, 1988. This decision was
not without controversy as federal banking policy at the
time would not ordinarily have permitted American Express to operate as a bank.[82] It is also a member of
the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) and is a registered member of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC), a federal agency insuring deposits at all of
Canadas chartered banks.
American Express has several oces in the UK, including a 9-story European Service Center, known as Amex
House, in the Carlton Hill area of Brighton, England. It
is a large white tower block, built in 1977[83] and surrounded by several other smaller oces around the city.
Amex House deals with card servicing, sales, fraud and
merchant servicing. The ocial Europe, Middle East,
and Africa HQ is located in the Belgravia district of Westminster, in central London, at Belgrave House on Buckingham Palace Road, SW1; other UK oces are based
in Sussex at Burgess Hill. In November 2009, Brighton
and Hove City Council granted planning permission for
American Express to redevelop the Amex House site.

Amex House in Brighton, England, was built in 1977.

The Japan, Asia-Pacic, and Australian Headquarters

is co-located in Singapore, at 16 Collyer Quay, and in
Sydney's King Street Wharf area, with the new state-ofthe-art building receiving greenhouse status due to the
environmentally friendly workspace that it provides.
The headquarters of the Latin America and Caribbean
division is in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

American Express Italy HQ in Rome

American Express also has a signicant presence in India. Its two centres are located at Gurgaon, Haryana
and one at Mathura Road, New Delhi. The Indian operations of American Express revolves around the back
oce customer services operations apart from the credit
card business for the domestic Indian Economy, arguably
the American Express campus in Gurgaon is the largest
employee location by head count for Amex and supports
business continuity objectives of Amex including during Hurricane Sandy, the center works 24/7 and includes

12

9 IN POPULAR CULTURE

a co-located second building which was recently trans- The members of the companys board of directors are
ferred to a third party service provider but does much listed on the companys website as follows:[86]
work for Amex.

7.2

Job satisfaction

For 2008, American Express was named the 62nd best

company to work for in the United States by Fortune,
ranking it number one for bank card companies.[84]
In October 2008, Amex Canada Inc. was named
one of Greater Torontos Top Employers by Mediacorp
Canada Inc., which was announced by the Toronto Star
newspaper.[85]

Management and corporate governance

The ocers of the company are listed on the companys

website as follows:[86]
Kenneth Chenault: Chairman and Chief Executive
Ocer
Douglas E. Buckminster: President, International
Consumer and Global Network Services
James Bush: Executive Vice President, World Service
Kevin Cox: Executive Vice President, Human Resources
William H. Glenn: President, Global Corporate
Payments and Business Travel
Ash Gupta: Chief Risk Ocer and President, Risk
and Information Management
John D. Hayes: Executive Vice President and Chief
Marketing Ocer

Daniel F. Akerson: Managing Director of the

Carlyle Group
Charlene Barshefsky: Former United States Trade
Representative
Ursula M. Burns: President of Xerox Corporation
Kenneth I. Chenault: Chairman and CEO of American Express Co.
Peter Chernin: Former President and COO, News
Corporation
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.: Senior Managing Director
with Lazard Freres & Co. LLC
Jan Leschly: CEO of Care Capital LLC
Richard C. Levin: President, Yale University
Richard A. McGinn: Former CEO of Lucent Technologies, Partner, RRE Ventures
Edward D. Miller: Former President and CEO of
AXA SA
Frank P. Popo: Former Chairman Chemical Financial Corp.
Steven S. Reinemund: Former Chairman and CEO,
PepsiCo Inc.
Robert D. Walter: Chairman and CEO, Cardinal
Health
Ronald A. Williams: Chairman and CEO, Aetna
Inc.

9 In popular culture

Jerey C. Campbell: Executive Vice President and These slogans have been parodied numerous times:
Chief Financial Ocer[87]
Laureen E. Seeger: Executive Vice President and
General Counsel[88]
Thomas Schick: Executive Vice President, Corporate and External Aairs
Neal Sample: President, Enterprise Growth[89]
Joshua G. Silverman: President, U.S. Consumer
Services
Stephen J. Squeri: Group President, Global Corporate Services
Anr Williams: President, Global Merchant Services

In The Sopranos episode, "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request...", Christopher Moltisanti concludes
his sale of stolen credit card numbers to Middle
Easterners with a quip: Don't leave home without
them!" This statement confuses the Middle Easterners, who are unfamiliar with the ad campaign.
The long-running PBS childrens TV series Sesame
Street parodied the Do you know me?/Don't Leave
Home Without It ad campaigns with three skits
involving a Muppet character holding a Grown-Up
Friends hand while crossing the street. One skit featured Forgetful Jones (performed by Richard Hunt)
with Olivia (Alaina Reed Hall) as his Grown-Up
Friend, a second featured Bert and Ernie (Frank Oz

13
and Jim Henson respectively) with Gordon (Roscoe
Orman) as their Grown-Up Friend, and the third
featured Big Bird (Caroll Spinney) with Bob (Bob
McGrath) as his Grown-Up Friend. All three skits
ended with the grownups names being embossed
at the bottom of a card resembling an American
Express card that had a big human left hand in
the middle, with the words Grown-Up Friends
Hand above it, and a voiceover saying A GrownUp Friends Hand. Don't cross the street without it.

Yakov Smirno's book cover, America on Six

Rubles a Day (ISBN 978-0-394-75523-6), depicts
a Russian card with the slogan Don't leave home.

10 See also
List of foreign exchange companies
65 Broadway (Standard & Poors Building)

Another parody was seen on an episode of the CBS

game show Press Your Luck, when the animated
Whammy Character would give the Do you know
me?" tag line, followed by the display of an Amex
card-parody, which then had WHAMMY typed in
on the bottom line of the card.

American Express Community Stadium

In the pilot episode of "Masquerade (TV series)",

a KGB general says the line, I suppose you never
leave home without it, to a KGB agent when he sees
that agents National American card.

List of banks

In a campaign speech during the 1984 Election,

President Ronald Reagan said If the big spenders
get their way, they'll charge everything to your taxpayers express card, and believe me, they never
leave home without it.
In the nal episode of The Dukes of Hazzard, Boss
Hogg is shot at by a former associate, the bullet striking a wallet he had kept in his pocket and being
lodged in several credit cards. Narrator Waylon Jennings takes note of the situation and says, I bet hes
glad he didn't leave home without them (referring
to his credit cards).
On the 1997 lm Hercules during the song Zero to
Hero, the credit card is Grecian Express.
The 1989 movie Major League also parodied the
campaign. In one scene, in which every player
is dressed in a tuxedo, the Cleveland Indians tell
viewers of the lm why every player carries the
American Express Card with much of the explanation done one line at a time by players Jake Taylor
(Tom Berenger), Eddie Harris (Chelcie Ross), Rick
Wild Thing Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), and Roger Dorn (Corbin
Bernsen), and Manager Lou Brown (James Gammon). The scene ends with Willie Mays Hayes (a
tuxedo-clad Wesley Snipes) sliding into home plate
in front of the rest of the team, holding up his card
and saying to the viewers: The American Express
Card. Don't steal home without it.

American Express Gold card dress of Lizzy Gardiner

Business4Business
History of Wells Fargo

List of banks in United States

People
Franklin P. Buyer, Los Angeles City Council member, 193339, managed American Express oce

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14

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16

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[83] Collis, Rose (2010). The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton.

(based on the original by Tim Carder) (1st ed.). Brighton:
Brighton & Hove Libraries. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-95646640-2.
[84] 100 Best Companies to Work For. CNN Money. Retrieved October 9, 2008.
[85] Reasons for Selection, 2009 Greater Torontos Top Employers Competition.
[86] American Express: Ocers & Directors
[87] American Express Names Jerey Campbell Chief Financial Ocer. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
[88] American Express Names Laureen E. Seeger General
Counsel. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
[89] American Express Appoints Neal Sample President, Enterprise Growth. American Express. Retrieved October
17, 2014.

12

External links

Ocial website
American Express SEC Filings

EXTERNAL LINKS

17

13
13.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

American Express Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Express?oldid=737127846 Contributors: Grouse, Kirjtc2, Edward,

Kwertii, CORNELIUSSEON, Delirium, Ronz, Jiang, John K, Lukobe, JASpencer, Saint-Paddy, Timc, Furrykef, Hyacinth, Dfarmer,
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13.2

Images

File:AmEx_Rome_2.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/AmEx_Rome_2.jpg License: Public domain

Contributors: Own work Original artist: Dangis1982
File:American_Express_Company_Building_65_Broadway_entrance.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/b/be/American_Express_Company_Building_65_Broadway_entrance.jpg License: GFDL Contributors: Own work Original
artist: Beyond My Ken
File:American_Express_Shipping_Receipt_1853.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/American_
Express_Shipping_Receipt_1853.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: The Cooper Collection of American Transportation History

18

13

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Original artist: American Express Co. employees

File:American_Express_Tower_9-11.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/American_Express_Tower_
9-11.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs
division under the digital ID ppmsca.02121.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.

Original artist: Anonymous. Courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division. Library of Congress.
File:American_Express_logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/American_Express_logo.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Jsayre64 using CommonsHelper. Original artist: The original
uploader was CoolKid1993 at English Wikipedia
File:Americanexpressplatinumemvcontactless.jpg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/
Americanexpressplatinumemvcontactless.jpg License: Fair use Contributors: American Express Forums Original artist: American
Express
File:Amex_House,_Edward_Street,_Brighton_(from_southeast).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/
eb/Amex_House%2C_Edward_Street%2C_Brighton_%28from_southeast%29.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: The Voice of Hassocks
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Decrease2.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Decrease2.svg License: Public domain Contributors:
Own work Original artist: Sarang
File:ExpressPay-PayPass-PayWave.svg
Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/
ExpressPay-PayPass-PayWave.svg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Rfc1394
File:HK_West_Kln_Waterfront_Promenade_Hong_Kong_Wine_&_Dine_Festival_Nov-2012_booths_American_Express_
sponsor_view_ICC.JPG Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/HK_West_Kln_Waterfront_Promenade_
Hong_Kong_Wine_%26_Dine_Festival_Nov-2012_booths_American_Express_sponsor_view_ICC.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Ryantongwestra
File:Increase2.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Increase2.svg License: Public domain Contributors:
Own work Original artist: Sarang
File:Industry5.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Industry5.svg License: CC0 Contributors: https://
openclipart.org/detail/237859/factory Original artist: Tsaoja
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
File:Seinfeld_superman.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Seinfeld_superman.jpg License: ? Contributors:
Apparent capture made by the original uploader User:Platypus222. Original artist: ?
File:Shearson_AmEx_Logo.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Shearson_AmEx_Logo.png License: Fair use
Contributors:
http://books.google.com/books?id=oOICAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 Original artist: ?
File:Shearson_Lehman_Logo.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Shearson_Lehman_Logo.png License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:World_Financial_Center.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/World_Financial_Center.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Infratec

13.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0