Amex GBT CEO Expects More Mergers in Corporate Travel: Skift Interview
Photo Credit: Amex GBT CEO Paul Abbott. Amex GBT
Skift Take
It was a tortured process to get the Amex GBT-CWT merger past U.S. and UK regulators. Now comes the hard part.
A year-and-a-half after announcing its plans to acquire CWT, American Express Global Business Travel is now dealing with integrating the rival company, extracting synergies, and ensuring as many CWT customers as possible stay on board through the merger.
CEO Paul Abbott told Skift he expects Amex GBT to get a 30% revenue boost from the combination, and that the impact will begin to be felt in the fourth quarter of 2025 and into 2026.
We talked to Abbott about the CWT merger, an agentic AI pilot with a large Amex GBT customer, his expectation of more mergers to come in corporate travel, and the importance of bringing on board more unmanaged business travelers.
The interview has been edited.
What's Next for the CWT Brand?Dennis Schaal: So, what happened to the CWT brand in recent years? And how do you revive it?
Paul Abbott: Well, I think some of the financial challenges that CWT had were very well-documented. I think what we're d
