Global Business Travel Group, Inc. (American Express Global Business Travel or simply Amex GBT) is a multinational

travel management company A travel management company (TMC) is a travel agency which manages organizations' corporate or business travel programs. Such companies will often provide an end-user online booking tool, mobile application, program management, and consulting te ...

headquartered in New York City. Amex GBT has 18,000 employees in more than 140 countries.

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

holds a minority interest in Amex GBT, but the travel company operates as a separate entity from the financial services group.

History

In 2003, Amex GBT acquired Rosenbluth International from

Hal Rosenbluth Hal Rosenbluth is an American businessman and author who founded Philadelphia-based travel agency, Rosenbluth International. In 2003, Rosenbluth led the sale of Rosenbluth International to American Express. Rosenbluth later founded Take Care He ...

in a "mega deal" that combined two of the top global travel agencies at the time. In 2014

divested their Global Business Travel division for an investment of $900 million to an investor group creating American Express Global Business Travel. The investment group was led by Certares LP and included

Qatar Holdings The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA; ) is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes. In November 2024, the QIA had an estimated $526 ...

, Macquarie Capital and funds managed by

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

and

Teacher Retirement System of Texas Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) is a Pensions, public pension plan of the State of Texas. Established in 1937, TRS provides retirement and related benefits for those employed by the public schools, colleges, and universities supporte ...

. American Express maintained 50-percent ownership of the newly created American Express Global Business Travel (GBT). In December 2021, American Express GBT announced plans to become a publicly traded company through a business combination with Apollo Strategic Growth Capital, a

special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking ...

(SPAC) backed by

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...

. Following the completion of the business combination with Apollo Strategic Growth Capital on May 27, 2022, the company began trading on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

on May 31, 2022, with the symbol GBTG.

Acquisitions

* October 2003: Rosenbluth International * August 2016: KDS * May 2016: SMT Travel Agency * June 2017: Banks Sadler * February 2018:

Hogg Robinson Group Hogg Robinson Group was a business active in the insurance and latterly the corporate travel management sectors. It was acquired by American Express Global Business Travel in July 2018. History Hogg Robinson Group was established in 1845, by b ...

* August 2019: Kanoo Travel * June 2019: DER Business Travel * October 2020: 30SecondstoFly * January 2021: Ovation * May 2021: Egencia * March 2024: Announced plans to acquire CWT in a $570 million deal. However, in January 2025, the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

filed a lawsuit to block the acquisition.

References

{{reflist American Express Travel and holiday companies of the United States Travel agencies Travel management Companies based in Jersey City, New Jersey Special-purpose acquisition companies Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange