American Express (AXP) knew abandoning its branded-card deal with Costco would hurt, but CEO Kenneth Chenault had months to prepare.
He used them to insulate the New York-based company from the loss as much as possible, by wooing Costco customers to AmEx’s other cards. The results were reflected in the company’s results from mid-2015 through mid-2016.
“We had a window of opportunity here, and we took full advantage of it,” Chenault said at the company’s investor presentation on Wednesday. “We have now effectively replaced the new cards that we used to bring in through Costco.”
