Word: amex
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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American Express last week joined the most exclusive club in U.S. business: the often quoted Dow Jones index of 30 leading industrial companies. No one was more surprised than Amex officials when they learned that they were replacing the ailing Manville Corp. on the blue-chip list that includes Exxon, General Motors, A. T. & T. and other giant firms. Said Amex Chairman James Robinson III: "We are simply delighted." Added Sanford Weill, chairman of the firm's executive committee and Shearson/American Express, the second largest U.S. brokerage: "I pinched myself to make sure it was true...
While the 132-year-old Amex is mainly known for its credit cards, travelers checks and a worldwide network of travel agencies, those businesses now account for only about 35% of the company's profits, which totaled $518 million last year. The largest slice of earnings, nearly 40%, came from Fireman's Fund Insurance Companies, the world's largest insurer of movie productions and the eighth biggest American property and liability underwriter. The brokerage business from its subsidiary Shearson contributed another 20% to earnings. Additional parts of the diversified corporate empire include Mitchell Beazley Ltd., the British...
Originally a carrier of mail and general goods between the East and the Midwest, Amex introduced the first travelers check in 1891. The business has been a bonanza for the firm, which charges a 1% fee for issuing the checks and then puts the cash it receives in high-yielding investments. Competition in the field is now fierce, but Amex still has about half of the estimated $40 billion annual business...
...ahead after introducing its green card in 1958. The firm now has some 14 million pieces of plastic in use, against about 2 million for Diners' Club. Visa and MasterCard, which issue their cards through banks, are far bigger. Each has about 70 million cards in circulation. But Amex insists that its members are more affluent and use their cards more often...
Qube, Warner-Amex's two-way cable service, is just shaking down in Dallas, but there is some apprehension that it may be too good to resist. Customers pay a monthly $9.95 for access to 80 channels and the Qube system, then an additional fee for each of the five subscription channels. There will soon be hundreds of pay-per-view attractions each month that could turn a video freak into an unintentional deadbeat. In conjunction with the Dallas city council, Warner-Amex has discussed setting a debt ceiling for customers. In Columbus, Warner-Amex officials already have...