American Express CEO to Retire Early

American Express Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Harvey Golub said Monday that he’ll retire in two years, speeding Ken Chenault’s ascension to the top of the world’s biggest charge card issuer and travel agency.

Chenault, 47, currently president and chief operating officer, will take over in April 2001, three years earlier than expected, putting an African American CEO at the helm of a Dow Jones industrial average member company.

Promising Chenault the top job now could shield him from being poached by a rival, investors said. Chenault joined the board of IBM Corp. late last year and his string of successes at American Express has drawn attention.

“Clearly, another company might have tried to take him away if he didn’t get promised the top spot,” said James Ellman, a portfolio manager at AIM Capital Management Inc., which oversees $110 billion. “That’s not something we’ll probably know for a while, whether that was a factor or not. The bottom line is Golub is deciding to step down when times are good and pass the baton to the lieutenant who helped him turn the company around.”

Chenault, who will take over as chairman from Golub about a year after assuming the CEO post, was named by Golub as a likely successor in 1997. The succession, though, wasn’t formalized until now, and Golub, 60, previously said he didn’t plan to retire until he reached 65.

Under Golub, American Express restructured, selling and buying assets to focus on its cards and travel business. Its shares have risen sixfold since Golub took over in 1993.

Now the company, having gained back its profitability--earnings per share last year were $4.63 last year compared with 88 cents in 1992--needs new leadership as it prepares to build its business on the Internet and continues its battle to allow its card to be sold by banks, investors and analysts said.

Chenault, a Harvard graduate who has been with American Express for 18 years, was one of the few executives to survive a plunge in earnings in the early 1990s that led Golub to reshape the company.

In a letter to employees, Golub said, “I chose to announce this succession well in advance of the actual event in order to clarify our plans . . . and to allow Ken to increase the range of his responsibilities.”

Golub decided to retire earlier to spend more “personal time” with his family and to ensure a smooth leadership succession, an American Express spokeswoman said. Golub has three sons and one daughter.

American Express shares fell $1.06 to close at $134.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.