FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Charlie Gasparino reports that American Express CEO Ken Chenault is “on very thin ice.” Gasparino went on to report that there is speculation on whether American Express will get sold and that “one of the names that is bouncing around among bankers is Wells Fargo.”
Editor’s note – see our article on ValueAct (which sold out because of the disput) vs Berkshire on Chenault for some background on the situation.
On American Express boss Ken Chenault on thin ice:
“Inside American Express, Chenault is clearly on very thin ice with the board…I’m hearing that from multiple sources inside the company, why is that, just look at the performance. They think he made some really lousy moves and now they are in a world of hurt, but we should point out the stock has not been performing well lately – hasn’t been performing well for the last couple of years in matter of fact. Today it performed a little better. Why is that? Because in addition to saying Ken Chenault is on thin ice and, we should point out Ken is 64 years old, they may just let him retire in a year, but he’s clearly going. The question is what do they do after that.”
On whether American Express gets sold to Wells Fargo:
“What we hear, now this is wear it is banker talk. The speculation is that they get sold…one of the names that is bouncing around among bankers is Wells Fargo. Why is that? Wells Fargo wants to create a bigger credit card.”
[drizzle]UPDATE March 9th: FOX Business Network Charlie Gasparino’s report of AmEx being acquired by Wells Fargo moved the stock. This comes after FOX Business Network had the highest rated week ever in Business Day with 162,000
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