American Express vs Volkswagen: Founders, CEOs and History
American Express was founded in 1850 by Henry Wells, William Fargo, John Warren Butterfield and is led by Stephen Squeri. Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by Ferdinand Porsche and is led by Oliver Blume.
Company facts
American Express
- Founded
- 1850
- Headquarters
- New York, New York
- Current CEO
- Stephen Squeri
- Employees
- 76,800
Volkswagen
- Founded
- 1937
- Headquarters
- Wolfsburg, Germany
- Current CEO
- Oliver Blume
- Employees
- 663,000
Founders
American Express
Henry Wells
The founding of American Express is a fascinating story of intense 19th-century corporate rivalry culminating in a monopolistic merger.
William Fargo
William Fargo co-founded American Express in 1850 alongside Henry Wells and John Butterfield, bringing operational discipline and route management expertise to the merger of competing express businesses.
John Warren Butterfield
John Warren Butterfield was one of the three founders of American Express in 1850 and served as a director, bringing the organizational resources, political connections and financial backing that made the merger viable.
Volkswagen
Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) was an Austrian-born automotive engineer who had worked for Lohner, Austro-Daimler and Daimler-Benz before opening his own design office in Stuttgart in 1931.
CEOs and their tenures
American Express
- Howard L. Clark Sr.1960–1977
President and Chief Executive Officer
Howard Clark became chief executive in 1960 and ran American Express until 1977. He inherited a charge card business that was losing money two years after launch and pushed it to profitability by repositioning it as a premium product, raising the merchant disc…
Source - James D. Robinson III1977–1993
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
James Robinson III presided over American Express during a period of both genuine growth and serious strategic overreach.
Source - Harvey Golub1993–2001
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Harvey Golub inherited a company left unfocused and financially weaker by James Robinson III's financial conglomerate strategy.
Source - Kenneth Chenault2001–2018
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Kenneth Chenault led American Express for 17 years through two severe shocks: the September 11 attacks in 2001, which hit its lower Manhattan operations and its travel-dependent business weeks after he became chief executive, and the 2008 financial crisis, dur…
Source - Stephen J. Squeri2018–present
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Stephen Squeri took over from Kenneth Chenault in February 2018 and has run the most financially productive period in the company's history, with FY2025 total revenues net of interest expense of $72.2 billion and net income of $10.8 billion, both records.
Source
Volkswagen
- Hermann Münch1946–1947
Chief Executive Officer
Early executive involved in the incredibly complex immediate post-war administration of the completely destroyed factory under British military control.
Source - Heinrich Nordhoff1948–1968
Chief Executive Officer
The absolute legendary post-war architect who took the ruins of the VW factory and transformed the Beetle into a massive, globally beloved cultural icon and economic miracle.
Source - Kurt Lotz1968–1971
Chief Executive Officer
Early post-war leader who began the critical process of diversifying VW's lineup beyond relying entirely on a single model (the Beetle).
Source - Rudolf Leiding1971–1975
Chief Executive Officer
Crucial CEO who managed the extremely difficult, highly risky transition away from the iconic but severely outdated Beetle toward modern, front-wheel-drive water-cooled cars (like the Golf).
Source - Toni Schmücker1975–1982
Chief Executive Officer
Guided the company through the severe financial crises of the 1970s, ensuring the successful launch and massive adoption of the original VW Golf.
Source - Carl Hahn1982–1993
Chief Executive Officer
As CEO in the 1980s, he executed the massive, highly strategic acquisitions of SEAT and Skoda, laying the foundation for VW's absolute dominance in Europe.
Source - Ferdinand Piëch1993–2002
Chief Executive Officer
As the legendary, absolutely ruthless patriarch (and grandson of Ferdinand Porsche), he transformed VW from a struggling mass-market brand into the most powerful automotive conglomerate on Earth.
Source - Bernd Pischetsrieder2002–2006
Chief Executive Officer
Serving as CEO from 2002 to 2006, he oversaw the incredibly complex integration of massive luxury brands like Bugatti and Bentley into the VW Group portfolio.
Source - Martin Winterkorn2007–2015
Chief Executive Officer
As the notoriously demanding, absolutely feared CEO, he oversaw massive global expansion but fostered a culture of absolute terror that led engineers to cheat rather than admit failure.
Source - Matthias Müller2015–2018
Chief Executive Officer
As CEO during the darkest period in modern VW history, he initiated the massive cultural purge of the toxic, highly secretive engineering culture that caused the cheating scandal.
Source - Herbert Diess2018–2022
Chief Executive Officer
Serving as CEO, he forcefully dragged the massive, highly bureaucratic legacy automaker into the Tesla era, though his abrasive style alienated the powerful Porsche-Piëch families.
Source - Oliver Blume2022–present
Chairman of the Board of Management
He also ran Porsche AG alongside the group role until Michael Leiters took over as Porsche CEO on January 1, 2026, leaving Blume focused on Volkswagen Group.
Source
Timeline: American Express and Volkswagen side by side
1850American Express
American Express founded in Buffalo, New York
Henry Wells, William Fargo and John Butterfield merged three competing express businesses on March 18, 1850 to form the American Express Company, an unincorporated joint-stock association capitalized at 150,000 dollars.
1882American Express
Money order launched
American Express introduced its own money order, competing directly with the postal money order the United States Post Office had offered since 1864.
1891American Express
Traveler's cheque invented
Marcellus Berry created the American Express Traveler's Cheque after president J.C. Fargo struggled to cash letters of credit on a European trip in 1890.
1917American Express
Federal control of the express industry
Federal control of the railroads began in December 1917, and in 1918 the domestic express operations of American Express and its rivals were consolidated into the American Railway Express Company.
1937Volkswagen
Volkswagen founded
Volkswagen was founded under the German Labour Front as part of a state-directed people's car program.
1945Volkswagen
Wolfsburg restarted
British military administration helped restart peacetime production at Wolfsburg after World War II.
1958American Express
First American Express charge card
American Express issued its first charge card on October 1, 1958, printed on paper with a 6 dollar annual fee, after signing up more than 250,000 card members before launch.
1965Volkswagen
Audi foundation added
Volkswagen acquired Auto Union from Daimler-Benz, creating the foundation for modern Audi.
1966American Express
Gold Card introduced
American Express launched the Gold Card in 1966 for higher-spending executives and frequent travelers, the first tier above the standard card and the start of the graded premium lineup that later added the Platinum Card and the Centurion Card.
1974Volkswagen
Golf production begins
The Golf gave Volkswagen a modern front-engine, front-wheel-drive compact platform after the Beetle era.
1984American Express
Platinum Card launched during the financial supermarket build-out
American Express introduced The Platinum Card by invitation in 1984 with a 250 dollar annual fee, creating the ultra-premium card category.
1993American Express
Harvey Golub refocuses the company
Harvey Golub became chief executive in 1993 and unwound the conglomerate: the Shearson brokerage went to Primerica's Smith Barney and The Boston Company to Mellon Bank in 1993, and Lehman Brothers was spun off in 1994.
1999American Express
Centurion Card launched
American Express created the Centurion Card in 1999, an invitation-only metal card that became the top tier of its lineup. The company has never published its fee schedule, and the product functions mainly as a positioning device for the cards below it.
2001American Express
Kenneth Chenault becomes chief executive
Kenneth Chenault became chief executive in January 2001, weeks before the September 11 attacks damaged the company's lower Manhattan operations and cut travel spending sharply.
2008American Express
Conversion to a bank holding company
On November 10, 2008 the Federal Reserve Board approved applications by American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services to become bank holding companies, on conversion of American Express Centurion Bank from an industrial loan company int…
2012Volkswagen
Porsche consolidated
Porsche became a controlled sport-luxury profit anchor within Volkswagen Group.
2015Volkswagen
Matthias Müller becomes CEO
Matthias Müller became CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft in 2015. Chief executive of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft from 2015 to 2018.
2015Volkswagen
Emissions Scandal
US regulators accused Volkswagen in September 2015 of fitting diesel cars with software that cheated emissions tests.
2016American Express
Costco co-brand ends
Costco moved its United States co-branded card to Citigroup and Visa on June 20, 2016, ending a 16-year exclusive relationship after the two sides failed to agree terms, and stopped accepting American Express cards in its warehouses.
2018American Express
Stephen Squeri becomes chairman and chief executive
Stephen Squeri succeeded Kenneth Chenault in February 2018 after more than three decades inside the company, including spells as chief information officer and group president of Global Corporate Services.
2018Volkswagen
Herbert Diess becomes CEO
Herbert Diess became CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft in 2018. Chief executive of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft from 2018 to 2022.
2020American Express
Pandemic hits travel and entertainment spending
COVID-19 restrictions cut the travel and entertainment spending American Express depends on, and total revenues net of interest expense fell from 43.6 billion dollars in 2019 to 36.1 billion dollars in 2020, with net income down to 3.1 billion dollars.
2022Volkswagen
Oliver Blume becomes chairman
Oliver Blume became chairman of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft in 2022. He also ran Porsche AG alongside the group role until Michael Leiters took over as Porsche CEO on January 1, 2026, leaving Blume focused on Volkswagen Group.
2024American Express
Tock acquisition widens the dining platform
American Express agreed in June 2024 to buy Tock, a reservation, table and event management platform, from Squarespace for 400 million dollars in cash, pairing it with Resy, which it had bought in 2019.
2024Volkswagen
Rivian software joint venture
Volkswagen and Rivian launched a software joint venture targeting next-generation electrical architecture.
2025American Express
Platinum refresh and record FY2025 results
American Express unveiled refreshed United States Consumer and Business Platinum Cards on September 18, 2025, raising the annual fee from 695 dollars to 895 dollars and adding statement credits it values at over 3,500 dollars a year.
2025Volkswagen
Revenue reaches ~$364B (EUR321.9B)
Volkswagen reported ~$364 billion (EUR321.9 billion) in sales revenue, ~$10.1 billion (EUR8.9 billion) in operating result, and 8.984 million deliveries.
Acquisitions
American Express
- Center2025Undisclosed
- Tock2024$400M
- Kabbage2020Undisclosed
- Resy2019Undisclosed
- Loyalty Partner2011$660M
- Thomas Cook corporate travel and United States travel offices1994$375M
Volkswagen
- Porsche AG2012Undisclosed
- Bentley Motors1998Undisclosed
- Auto Union / Audi1965Undisclosed
Questions about American Express vs Volkswagen
Who is the CEO of American Express Company and Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft?
American Express Company is led by Stephen Squeri and Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft is led by Oliver Blume. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was American Express Company founded vs Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft?
American Express Company was founded in 1850 — 87 years before Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, which was founded in 1937. American Express Company's longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.
How many employees does American Express Company have compared to Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft?
American Express Company employs approximately 76,800 people, while Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft employs approximately 663,000. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft has the larger workforce at 663,000 employees, compared to American Express Company's 76,800. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are American Express Company and Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft headquartered?
American Express Company is headquartered in United States and Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft is headquartered in Germany. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded American Express Company and Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft?
American Express Company was founded by Henry Wells, William Fargo, John Warren Butterfield. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft was founded by Ferdinand Porsche.
Which company has a longer operating history — American Express Company or Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft?
American Express Company has been operating for approximately 176 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft has been in operation for around 89 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the American Express vs Volkswagen overview