American Express Company History, Latest News, American Express Current Video Information
The American Express Company is one of the world’s largest travel agencies, and it is equally as well known for its charge cards and revolving credit cards. The company also issues traveler’s checks and publishes such magazines as Food & Wine and Travel & Leisure through its American Express Publishing unit. Their travel agency operations have more than 2,200 locations worldwide and its Travelers Cheque Group is the world’s largest issuer of traveler’s checks (They also issues gift cards.)
Beautifully engraved certificate from the American Express Company issued in the 1960’s. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of a Centurion Soldier. This item has the printed signatures of the Company’s President and Secretary and is over 45 years old.
American Express was founded in 1850 by Henry Wells, William Fargo, and John Butterfield as an express business. In 1882, American Express launched its money order business to compete with the US Post Office’s money orders. This product quickly spread to Europe where no such financial product existed. Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip to Europe and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite the fact that he was president of American Express and that he carried with him traditional letters of credit, he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere except in major cities. Mr. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and asked him to create a better solution than the traditional letter of credit. Mr. Berry created the American Express Travelers Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $10, $20, $50, and $100.
The Travelers Cheque established American Express as a truly international company and in 1915 they announced the establishment of a Travel Department and soon established its first travel agencies.
During the winter of 1917 the US suffered a severe coal shortage and on December 26th President Woodrow Wilson commandeered the railroads on behalf of the US government to move US troops, their supplies, and coal. Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo was assigned the task of consolidating the railway lines for the war effort. All contracts between express companies and railroads were nullified and McAdoo proposed that all existing express companies be consolidated into a single company to serve the country’s needs. This ended American Express’s express business. The result was a new company called the American Railway Express company formed in July 1918. The new entity took custody of all the pooled equipment and property of existing express companies (the largest share of which, 40%, came from American Express who had owned 71,280 miles of railroad lines, 10,000 offices, with over 30,000 employees).
Credit Card Services History American Express executives discussed the possibility of launching a travel charge card as early as 1946, but it wasn’t until Diners Club launched their own card in March 1950 that American Express began to seriously consider the possibility. At the end of 1957 American Express CEO Ralph Reed decided to get into the card business, and by the launch date of October 1, 1958 public interest had become so significant that they actually issued 250,000 cards prior to the official launch date. The card was launched with an annual fee of $6, $1 higher than Diners Club, to be seen as a premium product. The first cards were paper, with the account number and cardmember’s name typed. It wasn’t till 1959 that American Express began issuing embossed ISO 7810 plastic cards, an industry first.
In 1966 American Express introduced the Gold Card and in 1984 the Platinum Card, clearly defining different 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 was offered by invitation only to American Express customers with at least 2 years of tenure, significant spending, and excellent payment history.
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