Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit Against American Express Company

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Jul 30, 2015, 05:43 ET

NEW YORK, July 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP ("Robbins Geller") (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/amex/) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of an institutional investor in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of American Express Company ("AmEx") (NYSE:AXP) common stock during the period between October 16, 2014 and February 11, 2015, inclusive (the "Class Period").

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Samuel H. Rudman or David A. Rosenfeld of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at [email protected]. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action online at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/amex/. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges AmEx and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. AmEx, together with its subsidiaries, provides charge and credit payment card products and travel-related services to consumers and businesses worldwide. In addition to issuing its own proprietary cards, AmEx has entered into a series of co-branding relationships with travel providers and retailers.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants issued false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material adverse information regarding AmEx's business and prospects, including the status of its negotiations with U.S. Costco to renew its co-branding agreement, which was set to expire on March 31, 2016, and the financial impact of that agreement on AmEx's business. As a result of these false and misleading statements and/or omissions during the Class Period, AmEx stock traded at artificially inflated prices, reaching a high of nearly $95 per share on December 29, 2014.

Then on February 12, 2015, AmEx announced that it had lost the U.S. Costco co-branding relationship and that the financial impact of that loss would be severe. AmEx disclosed that the U.S. Costco co-branding agreement generated 8% of the Company's revenues in 2014, that one in ten U.S. AmEx cards had been issued pursuant to the U.S. Costco co-branding arrangement and that 20% of its outstanding loans had been made pursuant to that agreement. Finally, as a result of the loss of the U.S. Costco co-branding agreement, AmEx stated that the Company's 2015 and 2016 profits would suffer and that the Company would not be able to make any headway on its previous efforts to increase earnings per share until 2017 at the very earliest. In response to this announcement, the price of AmEx common stock fell from a close of $85.40 per share on February 11, 2015, to close at $77.53 per share on February 13, 2015, a decline of nearly $8 per share.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of AmEx common stock during the Class Period (the "Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller, with 200 lawyers in ten offices, represents U.S. and international institutional investors in contingency-based securities and corporate litigation. The firm has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history and was ranked first in both the amount and number of shareholder class action recoveries in ISS's SCAS Top 50 report for 2014. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/amex/ for more information.

Contact:
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
Samuel H. Rudman, 800-449-4900
David A. Rosenfeld
[email protected]

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SOURCE Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP