Long Lake’s Buy Brings This Financial Holding a Cool $1.5 Billion

On Monday morning, America Express (AXP) shared that it will sell its 30% interest in American Express Global Business Travel (GBTG) that is being acquired by Long Lake Management in a $6.3 billion transaction.

Amex GBT investors are set to receive $9.50 per share, representing a 60.2% premium to the company's May 1 closing stock price. Amex will recognize proceeds near $1.5 billion and a pre-tax gain of $975 million.

Those figures were not factored into Amex’s recent guidance, and management indicated plans to use the proceeds to invest in the company and return “a portion of the gain to shareholders.” This could come in the form of either buybacks or as fuel for its newish $0.95 per share quarterly dividend. Amex does not have a history of special dividends, but we’ll keep our ears open during the company’s annual shareholder meeting slated for Tuesday, May 5.

We have some room to add to this membership-driven company, but following our comments on Monday about upcoming earnings from consumer-facing companies, we’ll stay on the bench with AXP shares. Sizing up Amex’s Q1 2026 transaction volumes against those from Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) reaffirms the company’s positioning, but we’ll remain focused on the prospects for the all-important net card fee revenue stream. For newer members, that means tracking the number of cards in force and the average fee per card, and the impact of Amex’s Platinum Card refresh efforts. So far, both are poised to climb throughout 2026.

More Pro Portfolio

At the time of publication, TheStreet Pro Portfolio was long AXP shares.