Misplaced Pages

#720279

86-552: A closed-circuit television system at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo in Tokyo , Japan inspired Steve Ross , Chairman of Warner Communications , to wonder what could be done to improve the performance of Warner's tiny cable television division. Ross was intrigued by the potential of delivering Warner Bros. movies directly to home subscribers. At the time, Warner Cable was a small division of Warner Communications, run by

172-620: A terracotta seal with the American Express Eagle. In 1890–91 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 financial institutions in the city. To reflect this, the company purchased the Broadway buildings and site. At

258-592: A 4.61% worldwide market share by payment volume in 2022, compared to 38.73% for Visa and 24% for Mastercard. While American Express credit cards are accepted at 99% of US merchants that accept credit cards ( Costco being a notable exception), they are much less accepted in Europe and Asia. American Express offers various types of cards including travel and dining cards, everyday spending points cards, and cash back cards. Each category has several card options with different benefits and reward structures. High-profile cards like

344-672: A better solution than the letter of credit. Berry introduced the American Express Traveler's Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $ 10, $ 20, $ 50, and $ 100. Traveler's 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 financial institutions refused to assist these stranded travelers. The British government appointed American Express its official agent at

430-584: A faster method for groups to communicate and interact, across distance." Warner used the Qube system to acquire valuable cable franchises, with which it would build and create cable monopolies in several large markets throughout the country. Warner Qube was "awarded" cable franchises in cities such as Houston , Milwaukee , Dallas , Cincinnati, St. Louis and Pittsburgh . Many of the fundamental aspects of Qube became important parts of television: pay-per-view and on-demand programs, MTV and Nickelodeon . Qube itself

516-724: A financial services holding company and made several acquisitions, creating an investment banking arm. In mid-1981 it purchased Sanford I. Weill 's Shearson Loeb Rhoades , the second-largest securities firm in the United States to form Shearson/American Express . Shearson Loeb Rhoades itself was the culmination of several mergers in the 1970s as Weill's 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 totaling $ 250 million at

602-538: A former Western Union telecommunications executive and attorney, Gus Hauser. Ross surrounded Hauser with entertainment industry executives, including Jac Holzman , who had sold his Elektra Records to Ross in 1967; Mike Dann , the CBS programming wizard responsible for The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres ; former CBS general counsel Spencer Harrison, an executive involved in the launch of My Fair Lady on Broadway; and super-agent Ted Ashley , whose talent agency

688-534: A local bank card clearing business license in China. In a court case Ohio v. American Express Co. (2018), merchants filed a class action lawsuit against American Express and claimed that charging high fees to merchants is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . According to the lawsuit, American Express charges significantly higher fees than other credit card providers. In January 2017,

774-543: A national survey, but this information could potentially be traced directly back to the respondents. Although Warner-Amex assured subscribers that their personal information would be kept private, such data was valuable to merchandisers, political groups and other organizations. Even if subscribers trusted Warner-Amex's commitment to privacy, there were still concerns regarding the ability for computer hackers to potentially steal information collected via Qube. Consequently, non-renewals became more numerous, ultimately contributing to

860-540: A result of antitrust litigation brought by the United States Department of Justice . In January 2004, American Express reached a deal to have its cards issued by MBNA . Initially decried by Mastercard executives as nothing but an "experiment", the cards were issued beginning in October 2004. An agreement was reached regarding the acquisition of MBNA by Bank of America whereby Bank of America owned

946-440: A short lifespan of seven years and multiple shortcomings, it occupies a unique place in media history since it was a venture that led to other innovations in the television industry. Among other things, it triggered the birth of several innovative cable television networks, such as MTV and Nickelodeon , contributed to the growth of infomercials, and introduced instant television ratings. According to Everett Rogers , it also became

SECTION 10

#1732790122721

1032-476: A single show: Pinwheel , which would go on to air on Nickelodeon from the latter's launch in 1979; Sight on Sound, a predecessor to MTV ; a weather channel; a learning channel; and a channel filled with locally produced programs that showed off QUBE's interactivity. The first Qube box was issued as a test for 4 months to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Kesler, in Hilliard, Ohio . The Kesler family watched

1118-414: A tightly controlled, single-use card number. In March 2008, Standard Chartered Bank acquired American Express Bank Ltd, the international banking subsidiary of American Express for $ 823 million. On November 10, 2008, during the 2007–2008 financial crisis , the company received Federal Reserve System approval to convert to a bank holding company , making it eligible for government assistance under

1204-668: Is one of the largest US banks , and is ranked 77th on the Fortune 500 and 28th on the list of the most valuable brands by Forbes . In 2023, it was ranked 63rd in the Forbes Global 2000 . Amex also owns a direct bank . Founded in 1850 as a freight forwarding company, Amex introduced financial and travel services during the early 1900s. It developed its first paper charge card in 1958, gold card in 1966, green card in 1969, platinum card in 1984, and Centurion Card in 1999. The "Don't Leave Home Without It" advertising campaign

1290-676: Is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment cards . It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street , also known as American Express Tower, in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan . Amex is the fourth-largest card network globally based on purchase volume, behind China UnionPay , Visa , and Mastercard . 141.2 million Amex cards were in force worldwide as of December 31, 2023, with an average annual spend per card member of US$ 24,059. That year, Amex handled over $ 1.7 trillion in purchase volume on its network. Amex

1376-456: Is home to a 400-year-old garden. Construction of the hotel was requested by the Japanese government in the early 1960s, in order to fill a perceived shortage of hotel space for foreign visitors to the upcoming 1964 Summer Olympics . Yonetaro Otani, a former sumo wrestler who founded and ran a small steel company, agreed to build the hotel on a site he owned. It had formerly been the site of

1462-538: The American Bureau of Shipping , a maritime concern (1977–86), and later J.J. Kenny, and Standard & Poor's , the latter of which renamed the building for itself. American Express extended its reach nationwide by arranging affiliations with other express companies (including Wells Fargo – the replacement for the two former companies that merged to form American Express), railroads, and steamship companies. In 1857, American Express started its expansion in

1548-553: The American Railway Express Agency 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 the rights to the express business over 71,280 miles (114,710 km) of railroad lines, and had 10,000 offices, with over 30,000 employees). American Express executives discussed

1634-575: The Fushimi-no-miya family residence in the Kioicho district of Tokyo (and before that, the residence of samurai lord Katō Kiyomasa ). The 1,085-room hotel was built in seventeen months using a number of techniques that were revolutionary in Japan at the time, such as curtain walls and prefabricated unit bathrooms. The 400-year-old garden on the site was retained as part of the hotel. The hotel

1720-694: 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. In 1854, the American Express Co. purchased a lot on Vesey Street in New York City as

1806-648: The Troubled Asset Relief Program . At that time, American Express had total consolidated assets of about $ 127 billion. In June 2009, $ 3.39 billion in TARP funds were repaid plus $ 74.4 million in dividend payments. In July 2009, the company ended its obligations under TARP by buying back $ 340 million in Treasury warrants. As part of the conversion, the company reduced or closed many business lines of credit. In 2009, American Express introduced

SECTION 20

#1732790122721

1892-478: The $ 226 million credit card portfolio of Bank of Hawaii , then a division of Pacific Century Financial Corporation In January 2006, American Express sold its Bank of Hawaii card portfolio to Bank of America ( MBNA ). 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

1978-800: The 1980s, began accepting cards using the Visa and Mastercard payment networks. In 2011, Amex launched the Blue Cash Preferred Card credit card. In October 2012, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) required three American Express subsidiaries to refund an estimated $ 85 million to approximately 250,000 customers for illegal card practices between 2003 and 2012. Allegations included that American Express made misleading statements regarding signup bonuses, charged unlawful late fees, discriminated against applicants due to age, and failed to report consumer complaints to regulators. Also in October 2012, American Express and Walmart announced

2064-532: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that American Express could block merchants that accept its cards from steering customers to other cards, like those offered by Visa and Mastercard. In June 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the 2nd Circuit's ruling. In 2018, the Gold Card was converted to a credit card for UK residents, but remains a charge card in

2150-571: The American Express Travelers Cheque Card, a stored-value card that serves the same purposes as a traveler's cheque, but can be used in stores like a credit card. Amex discontinued the card in October 2007. On September 30, 2005, American Express completed the corporate spin-off of its American Express Financial Advisors unit, Ameriprise Financial , to its shareholders and RSM McGladrey acquired American Express Tax & Business Services (TBS). In 2006,

2236-618: The American Express network. American Express was, at the time, known for cutting its interchange fee to merchants and restaurants if they accepted only American Express and no other credit or charge cards. This prompted competitors such as Visa and Mastercard to file complaints as the tactics gave Amex exclusivity at restaurants. Capitalizing on this elitist image, American Express frequently mentioned such exclusive partnerships in its advertising. Aside from some holdouts including Neiman Marcus , which continued exclusivity until 2011,

2322-455: The Columbus interactive channel plan. The initial Qube service debuted with 30 channels (a large number of cable channels at the time), including 10 pay-per-view movie channels (a then-new feature for cable TV); 10 broadcast channels (from Columbus, Cincinnati , Indianapolis , Canton , Akron , and Cleveland ); and 10 community channels. These community channels included one dedicated to

2408-526: The Costco card accounts was significant; in the first quarter without Costco cards, company profit dropped 10% and revenue dropped 5% compared to the previous year. On March 1, 2017, ANZ announced that it was no longer issuing American Express cards, with them phased out entirely by August 5, 2017. In October 2017, American Express established a joint venture company, LianTong ( 连通 ), in China to operate its payment card brand locally. In June 2020, it obtained

2494-460: The Fee Party's legal bills, and Discover Card was able to increase their acceptance among Boston restaurants by 375%. Kenneth Chenault , then head of Travel Related Services prior to becoming American Express CEO, cut fees to bring these restaurants back into the fold. American Express then shifted its focus from exclusivity to broadening acceptance, adding mainstream merchants like Walmart to

2580-499: The First World War, the 21-story neo-classical American Express Co. Building was constructed in 1916–17 to the design of James L. Aspinwall, of the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker, the successor to the architectural practice of James Renwick Jr. The building consolidated the two lots of the former buildings with a single address: 65 Broadway . This building was part of the "Express Row" section of lower Broadway at

2666-575: The Green, Gold, and Platinum cards cater to frequent travelers and diners with perks tailored to these activities. In 1850, American Express was started as a freight forwarding company in Buffalo, New York . It was founded as a joint-stock corporation by the merger of the cash-in-transit companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), William G. Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and John Warren Butterfield (Wells, Butterfield & Company,

Qube (cable television) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2752-698: The Hotel New Otani Tokyo are often referred to as one of the Three Great Hotels ( 御三家 , gosanke ) of Tokyo. The hotel assumed operation of the Akasaka Palace , the Japanese State Guest House, in 1976. The palace and the hotel were the main venues of the 5th G7 summit in 1979, the 12th G7 summit in 1986, and the 19th G7 summit in 1993. The New Otani also hosted the world leaders who attended

2838-551: The ICC was drawn to its strict control of the railroad express business. However, the solution did not come immediately to hand. The solution to this problem came as a coincidence to other problems during World War I. During the winter of 1917, the United States suffered a severe coal shortage and on December 26 President Woodrow Wilson commandeered the railroads on behalf of the United States government to move federal troops, their supplies, and coal. Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo

2924-432: The Qube systems for two hours per night during weeknights. One of the most popular programs on Qube, Soap Scoop, wrapped up the daily events on each of the national soap operas . Guests on the show included producers and actors from the various programs. The show frequently polled viewers on their opinions regarding characters and plots. By 1982, Warner Cable was running at a $ 99 million loss, and by 1983, their total debt

3010-471: The Qube systems were gradually phased out. The last Qube boxes were phased out in 1984. In addition to financial issues, privacy concerns increased among subscribers to Qube. Personal information about a family's specific interests, political views and other personal information could be stored in a database after it was processed during an interactive Qube session. For example, a program could ask viewers to identify their favorite political candidates as part of

3096-458: The Shearson family, creating Shearson Lehman/American Express. Lehman CEO and former trader Lewis Glucksman became CEO of Shearson Lehman/American Express. In 1984, Shearson/American Express acquired Investors Diversified Services (IDS), bringing with it a fleet of financial advisors and investment products. In 1988, Shearson Lehman acquired the E.F. Hutton & Co. , a brokerage firm that

3182-889: The UK division of American Express joined the Product Red coalition and issued a Red Card, donating with each purchase through The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to help African women and children with HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. In late 2007, the company announced the Plum Card for small business owners. In March 2008, American Express acquired the Corporate Payment Services business of General Electric , which primarily focused on providing purchasing card solutions for large global clients, for $ 1.1 billion in cash. The transaction added V-Payment to its product portfolio. V-Payment enables

3268-644: The United States, and in 2015 in Canada, Costco ended its relationship with Amex that had provided co-branded Costco membership cards since 2004. The cards issued by Costco in the United States were an extension of an exclusive deal between Costco and American Express dating from 1999. Costco was the last major US merchant that accepted American Express cards exclusively. Costco's Canadian stores ended its exclusive deal with American Express in January 2015, in favor of one with Capital One and Mastercard. Citigroup became

3354-625: The ZYNC charge card, a white card targeting young adults. The card was later discontinued. In November 2010, the UK division of American Express was cautioned by the Office of Fair Trading for the use of controversial charging orders against those in debt. The company was one of four companies who were allegedly encouraging customers to turn their unsecured credit card debts into a form of secured debt. In November 2011, Neiman Marcus , which gave general-purpose card exclusivity to American Express since

3440-575: The area of financial services by launching a money order business to compete with the United States Post Office 's money orders. 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. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and asked him to create

3526-586: The bank. Safra then opened a competing bank. In response, American Express launched an international smear campaign against Safra by inaccurately reporting to news and media outlets in that Safra was being investigated by the FBI for being involved in the Iran–Contra affair , along with drug trafficking and the mafia. All of the accusations were confirmed to be false and led to the resignation of Harry L. Freeman, public relations chief of American Express, after admitting to

Qube (cable television) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3612-479: The beginning of World War I. They were to deliver letters, money, and relief parcels to British prisoners of war. Their employees went into camps to cash drafts for both British and French prisoners and arranged for them to receive money from home. By the end of the war they were delivering 150 tonnes of parcels per day to prisoners in six countries. In 1915, American Express established a travel division and soon established its first travel agency . Albert K. Dawson

3698-413: The broadcasts that were intended for a larger audience, and caused the eventual push in programming that would affect how cable formatted shows would be put together based on their viewing habits. The Keslers' children, Lori A. and Kurt W., are regarded to be the first product of the "cable generation." To 30,000 homes scattered around the city and its suburbs, the goal of Qube was rather simple: "To create

3784-571: The budding Financial District and into rented offices in two five-story brownstone commercial buildings at 63 and 65 Broadway that were owned by the Harmony family. In 1880, American Express built a new warehouse behind the Broadway Building at 46 Trinity Place. The designer is unknown, but it has a façade of brick arches that are reminiscent of pre-skyscraper New York. American Express has long been out of this building, but it still bears

3870-438: The channel line-up. Customers would remove the old guides and slide in the new ones. On the top of the remote was a hole in which a "key" (really just a magnet in a proprietary plastic holder) was inserted to unlock viewing of pay-per-view programming, which could be billed in much the same way as modern cable pay-per-view programs are. Without the key inserted, restricted channels displayed a default access denial screen. Though

3956-439: The company. In 1979, American Express acquired 50% of the cable subsidiary of Warner Communications , forming Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment , for $ 175 million in cash and short-term notes. It owned two-thirds of MTV , Nickelodeon , and The Movie Channel . The venture was unprofitable, and, in 1985, Amex sold its 50% interest to Viacom for $ 450 million. In the 1980s, American Express embarked on an effort to become

4042-506: The customer loans and American Express processed the transactions. American Express dismissed Bank of America from its antitrust litigation against Visa, Mastercard, and other banks. The first card from the partnership, the Bank of America Rewards American Express card, was released on June 30, 2006. In June 2005, American Express introduced ExpressPay, a contactless payment system based on wireless RFID . In July 2005, American Express issued

4128-849: The demise of the Qube experiment. Warner Cable's expanded cable service in Columbus and Cincinnati continued to use the Qube name following its shutdown. Warner Cable began installing a fiber-optic cable network in Columbus in December 1989, resulting in the Qube name being phased out in the area. Warner Cable ended its use of the Qube name in Cincinnati in November 1990. Initially, there were forty analog video channels that were arranged in four clusters: ten broadcast TV channels, ten satellite channels, ten pay-per-view channels (billed monthly), and ten channels that included interactive services: Qube promised an interactive gaming channel, Qube Games, that

4214-468: The end of the Wells-Fargo reign in 1914, an aggressive new president, George Chadbourne Taylor (1868–1923), who had worked his way up through the company over the previous thirty years, decided to build a new headquarters. The old buildings, dubbed by The New York Times as "among the ancient landmarks" of lower Broadway, were inadequate for such a rapidly expanding concern. After some delays due to

4300-483: The entire scandal. In July 1989, American Express publicly apologized to Edmond Safra and donated $ 8 million to the charity of his choice. In 1990, American Express sold its Swiss banking operations to Compagnie de Banque et d'Investissements, which led to the creation of Union Bancaire Privée (UBP). In 1984, Amex launched the Platinum Card, billed as an "ultra-exclusive" credit card with a $ 250 annual fee. It

4386-536: The exclusive issuer of Costco's credit cards and Visa replaced American Express as the exclusive credit card accepted at Costco's stores in the United States. 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. The Costco partnership represented 8%, or $ 80 billion, of American Express' billed business and about 20%, or about $ 14 billion, of its interest-bearing credit portfolio. The impact of losing

SECTION 50

#1732790122721

4472-425: The first media enterprise that raised serious concerns about large-scale user privacy issues. Qube served as an incubator for a large number of media innovators. Some examples of people who worked on Qube, moving on to other technological and media innovations, are: John Carey of Columbia Institute for Tele-Information summarized the legacy of Qube by saying that it, ... demonstrated that pay-per-view programming

4558-610: The funeral of Emperor Hirohito in 1989, the enthronement of Emperor Akihito in 1990, and the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito in 2019. Among its other notable guests are Josip Broz Tito , U.S. President Bill Clinton , Hungarian President Árpád Göncz , King Harald V of Norway , Prime Minister Tony Blair , Russian President Vladimir Putin , Vietnamese President Nguyễn Minh Triết , Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao , Chinese President Hu Jintao , Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and UK Prime Minister Theresa May . American Express The American Express Company or Amex

4644-499: The high-fee Centurion Card , often referred to as the "black card," which caters to an even more affluent customer segment. The card was initially available only to select users of the Platinum card. American Express created the card line amid rumors and urban legends in the 1980s that it produced an ultra-exclusive black card for elite users who could purchase anything with it. In December 2000, American Express agreed to acquire

4730-603: The launch of Bluebird, a prepaid debit card with roadside assistance and identity theft protection that can also be used as a substitute for a traditional transactional account whereby users can have payments deposited to the account and have insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . In October 2013, Amex sold most of its publications: Travel + Leisure , Food & Wine , Executive Travel , Black Ink , and Departures magazines, to Time Inc. Time restructured

4816-455: 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 made of paper, with the account number and card member's name typed. In 1959, American Express became the first company to issue embossed plastic cards. In 1966, American Express introduced the Gold Card for "big-spending members". In 1977, James D. Robinson III became chairman and CEO of

4902-472: The possibility of launching a travel charge card as early as 1946, but it was not until Diners Club launched a card in March 1950, that American Express began to seriously consider the possibility. At the end of 1957, under American Express CEO Ralph Reed the company entered the business and by the launch date of October 1, 1958, public interest had become so significant that 250,000 cards were issued prior to

4988-460: The practice largely ended in 1991. In April 1992, American Express spun off First Data in an initial public offering . In 1993, Harvey Golub became CEO of American Express. That year, American Express negotiated the sale of Shearson's retail brokerage and investment management business to Primerica . The Shearson business was merged with Primerica's Smith Barney to create Smith Barney Shearson . In June 1994, American Express completed

5074-468: The principal lesson of the Qube experiment is not that interactive media can't compete with traditional one-way mass media. Rather, interactive media must be developed in a viable economic and technical context. Hotel New Otani Tokyo The Hotel New Otani Tokyo is a large hotel located in Tokyo , Japan , opened in 1964 and operated by New Otani Hotels . The hotel currently has 1,479 rooms and 39 restaurants. It has hosted numerous heads of state and

5160-419: The publications, which are now owned by Dotdash Meredith . In 2013, the company opened its first airport lounge, offering access to certain cardmembers. In March 2014, American Express announced the corporate spin-off its corporate travel business as American Express Global Business Travel and the sale of 50% of the business to an investor group led by Certares LP for $ 900 million. Effective in 2016 in

5246-409: The room, which was significant since many TVs at the time had no remotes for changing channels. The buttons were split up on the remote, with ten buttons numbered 1 - 10 down the left-hand side, five larger buttons down the right hand side, each with a corresponding red LED indicator, and three buttons across the bottom of the remote. The three big buttons across the bottom chose which category of channel

SECTION 60

#1732790122721

5332-537: The service launched with thirty channels, the remote actually supported up to sixty (twenty in each category) and this capability was eventually used in some markets with externally-owned popular national networks and superstations available over satellite. Pressing one of the 1-10 buttons would select the first channel in that slot; pressing the same button again would toggle to the second channel. Stickers were provided to customers to update their remote, and new channel cards listed two channels per slot. Although Qube had

5418-454: The set-top boxes in six seconds. A computer would record the information and then display the results on the television screen for everyone to see. In the middle of these three rows of buttons was a clear plastic window that held a channel card with station names and logos arranged in a grid corresponding to the ten "row" buttons on the left and the three "column" buttons along the bottom. Channel cards were mailed to customers with each change in

5504-491: The site for its stables. The company's first New York headquarters was an 1858 marble Italianate palazzo at 55–61 Hudson Street , which had a busy freight depot on the ground story with a spur line from the Hudson River Railroad . A stable was constructed in 1867, five blocks north at 4–8 Hubert Street. The company prospered sufficiently that headquarters were moved in 1874 from the wholesale shipping district to

5590-497: The spin-off of the remaining investment banking and institutional businesses as Lehman Brothers , ending its foray into the brokerage business. In September 1994, the Optima True Grace card was introduced. The card was unique in that it offered a grace period on all purchases whether a balance was carried on the card or not, not charging interest on new purchases immediately for cards with unpaid balances. The card

5676-403: The successor earlier in 1850 of Butterfield, Wasson & Company). Wells and Fargo also started Wells Fargo & Co. in 1852 when Butterfield and other directors objected to the proposal that American Express extend its operations to California. American Express initially established its headquarters in a building at the intersection of Jay Street and Hudson Street in what was later called

5762-559: The time of its acquisition, Shearson Loeb Rhoades was the second-largest brokerage firm , behind Merrill Lynch . After the purchase of Shearson, Weill was given the position of president of American Express in 1983. Weill grew increasingly unhappy with responsibilities within the company and his conflicts with CEO James D. Robinson III . Weill soon realized that he was not positioned to be named CEO and resigned in August 1985. In 1984, American Express acquired Lehman Brothers and added it to

5848-431: The time. The building completed the continuous masonry wall of its block-front and assisted in transforming Broadway into the "canyon" of neo-classical masonry office towers familiar to this day. American Express sold this building in 1975, but retained travel services there. The building was also the headquarters over the years of other prominent firms, including investment bankers J.& W. Seligman & Co . (1940–74),

5934-545: The two companies. By this time, MTV and Nickelodeon became meaningful endeavors in their own right under the leadership of Bob Pittman and Geraldine Laybourne respectively. Through the early 1980s, Qube was either up and running or already built in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis. Warner Cable now had 200,000 subscribers; the new figure accounted for roughly 1 in 10 U.S. cable television subscribers. Pittman led an unsuccessful effort to buy MTV; there

6020-529: The use of Visa and Mastercard. The rationale was due to far lower fees as compared to American Express' fees at the time (which were about 4% for each transaction versus around 1.2% for Visa and Mastercard). The revolt, known as the "Boston Fee Party" (alluding to the Boston Tea Party ), spread to over 250 restaurants across the United States, including restaurants in other cities such as New York City , Chicago , and Los Angeles . Visa offered to pay

6106-404: The viewer would watch: pay-per-view, broadcast, or community broadcasting. The ten buttons down the left accessed each of the ten channels in that category. The 5 buttons down the right-hand side corresponded with the interactive aspect of the Qube. They allowed a television program to ask viewers a question with five possible answers. Answers to polls taken via the Qube box could be collected from

6192-522: Was $ 875 million. Warner Cable brought in American Express as an investor, and the two companies formed Warner-Amex Cable Communications with a widely-recognized board of directors, including American Express chairman Jim Robinson and President Lou Gerstner , and the former head of Shearson/American Express , Sanford Weill . Warner bought out American Express after the latter made an offer to buy Warner's position, leading to conflicts between

6278-445: Was Ross's first show-biz acquisition. Pioneer Electronics was hired to "build the box" that would transform the cable TV service in a few hundred thousand households into a device that was intended to change the entire entertainment landscape. The service was first launched in Columbus, Ohio, amidst considerable national and international press coverage. Hauser dispatched young New York City executive Nyhl Henson to oversee and direct

6364-404: Was also an unsuccessful attempt at a public offering. Gus Hauser was gone; taking his place would be President Reagan's Transportation Secretary, Drew Lewis . Lewis renegotiated with municipalities to ease the burden to Warner of some of the cable franchise deals. However, in order to keep the cable operation going, Warner-Amex Cable went out to sell MTV and Nickelodeon to Viacom a year later, and

6450-399: 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 and removed them from the ICC's interest. The result was that a new company called

6536-411: Was completed. It took on an iconic status during this period, particularly for its unique revolving restaurant on the highest floor. During this time, the building was a filming location for the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice , where it appeared as the headquarters of Osato Chemical & Engineering Co Ltd, the Japanese front for Ernst Stavro Blofeld 's SPECTRE organization. The New Otani

6622-554: Was discontinued a few years later. In 1998, Amex launched the Blue credit card, targeted at young adults, in the UK after testing it in other countries. The card had a smart chip and users were encouraged to pay bills and get information via the company website. It launched in the US in 1999. A television media campaign for Blue adopted the 1979 UK Synthpop hit " Cars " by Gary Numan as its theme music. In 1999, American Express introduced

6708-650: Was first announced under a management contract with Sheraton Hotels as the Otani-Sheraton Hotel . However, by the time of its completion, the arrangement was no longer in place, and the hotel opened as The New Otani on 1 September 1964, to coincide with the Olympics the following month. The New Otani was the tallest building in Tokyo from 1964 until 1968, when the Kasumigaseki Building

6794-610: Was greatly expanded in 1974, when the 40-storey Garden Tower opened. A third building, the 30-storey Garden Court office tower, opened in 1991. The original 1964 building, today referred to as "The Main", was extensively renovated and remodelled in 2007, when it was given a modern glass facade. In a reference to the three Edo era branch houses of the Tokugawa clan , the Imperial Hotel , the Hotel Okura Tokyo , and

6880-603: Was instrumental in expanding business operations overseas, even investing in tourist relations with the Soviet Union . During World War I, Dawson was a photographer and film correspondent with the German army. American Express was one of the monopolies that President Theodore Roosevelt had the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) investigate during his administration (1901–1909). The interest of

6966-516: Was introduced in 1975 and renewed in 2005. In the 1980s, Amex acquired and then divested a stake in Shearson . In the 1990s, it stopped reducing interchange fees for merchants who exclusively accepted Amex cards and expanded market share through targeted marketing campaigns. Amex converted to a bank holding company during the 2007–2008 financial crisis . Amex began operating airport lounges in 2013, offering access to certain cardholders. Amex had

7052-475: Was merged with the investment banking business. The investment banking arm was renamed Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. In 1983, as part of Robinson's plan to expand into international banking of wealthy clients, Amex acquired Trade Development Bank of Geneva from Edmond Safra for US$ 550 million and Safra became a member of the board of directors of Amex. TDB executives were excluded from important company decisions and Safra unsuccessfully tried to repurchase

7138-564: Was offered by invitation only to American Express customers with at least two years of tenure, significant spending, and excellent payment history. In 1987, American Express introduced the Optima card, its first credit card product that did not have to be paid in full at the end of the month. In 1991, a group of restaurants in Boston , including some that were exclusive to Amex, stopped accepting American Express while accepting and encouraging

7224-425: Was potentially viable—if the cost of promoting and processing pay-per-view orders could be reduced. And, Qube introduced a number of interactive formats that have since evolved and been adopted as components in cable and broadcast programming. MTV and Nickelodeon—two popular cable services in the U.S.—were both developed from models that originated on Qube. In this sense, Qube was an important programming laboratory. ...

7310-433: Was successfully installed and used in half the homes in Columbus, and the interactive results showed a high volume of participation from viewers who had the Qube box and remote. The later remotes added five additional buttons for a total of ten options, and became wireless . After launching a few other systems beyond Columbus, Qube created an interactive network in Columbus, which sent live, interactive programming to each of

7396-536: Was supposed to award prizes, such as free service credits. Qube Games was intended to launch on channel P-8 on January 31, 1978, but it never materialized. In April 1978, the community and pay-per-view channels were re-arranged: The Qube remote was a book-size box with 18 buttons on it that sent signals across a long tether cable to a box with no display, but otherwise similar in size and function to modern cable set-top boxes. The remote had feet for tabletop use, but could be hand-held (probably two hands) and passed around

#720279