Costco Wholesale Corp. Dumps Deal With American Express Company

American Express Co.'s AXP exclusive U.S. credit card agreement with Costco Wholesale Corp. COST will end next year, the company said Thursday. http://about.americanexpress.com/news/pr/2015/amex-costco-us-agreement-to-end.aspx American Express fell in the pre-market session but changed hands recently at $147.03, off $0.43 cents. "We were unable to reach terms that would have made economic sense for our company," American Express Chief Executive Kenneth I. Chenault said, of the deal, now set to expire March 31, 2016. The company began discussions on renewing the co-branded card agreement "well in advance of the contract expiration," Chenault said. American Express listed Costco among its key business partners in its most recent annual report and said competition for such co-branded relationships "is very intense." Reports surfaced in November that the Costco agreement was in trouble. Costco earlier last year dropped a similar, smaller exclusive arrangement with American Express at its Canadian operations in favor of a new partnership with Capital One Financial Corp. COF and Mastercard Inc. MA. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/costco-accept-non-american-express-credit-cards-report-article-1.2002613 RBC's Jason Arnold speculated at the time that the loss of Costco business in the U.S. "certainly will represent a significant relationship loss for AmEx." The company also maintains co-branded card agreement with Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. HOT Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. HLT and Lowe's Cos. LOW, according to its most recent annual report.