American Express Company

There's a new font at the Open, and it might look familiar.

American Express, one of the tournament's major sponsors, seems to be cribbing from the Obama campaign's well-received graphic design, especially its use of Gotham font.

"It’s substantial yet friendly," branding expert Brian Collins said about Gotham to The New York Times. Just what you want from a credit card.

There’s no question—Beyoncé Knowles enjoys a truly ridonkulous lifestyle. What with Jay-Z as your man, hotness as your bod, Sirens as your voice and gold buillon as your pennies, it must feel like the sun rises and sets in your gilt bidet. So don’t let this American Express commercial make you think any differently. Nobody—no matter how radical your ways and off-the-hook your style—should be forced to live like the woman in this minute-long spot. Heck, considering the second-hand motion sickness, fatigue and cramps—what?—we experienced after sitting through the ad, nobody should be forced to watch it, either. (Scratch that, it’s definitely worth a peep.) Does AmEx actually think people want to go directly from the Madrid airport with an obnoxious blonde assistant, only to hop into an impromptu dance class to break a shoe? They won’t even let her visit the Prado! At least in their other celebrity-driven campaigns Ellen DeGeneres gets to chill with exotic animals and Wes Anderson appears a lot cooler than he is.  read more »

Back in the heady days of 2003, no one seemed to want to talk about how much the World Trade Center  read more »

The first quarter fund-raising numbers are beginning to trickle in, and once again Hillary Clinton is the big winner, raising a hefty $2 million a month each month from January through March. In a distant second place: Rick Santorum, whose war chest now holds $10 million, thanks to large GOP cash infusions -- and a little help from some New York friends.

A quick Politicker once-over of past Santorum donors turned up lots of usual suspects -- think Rupert Murdoch, who has given $4200, and Henry Kissinger, who plunked down $500 -- as well as some genuine surprises, like die-hard Democratic fund-raiser John Catsimatidis. The list also includes baby neo-con Mark Gerson, failed would-be senator Rick Lazio, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow, controversial businessman Kenneth Langone, and a piggy bank's worth of Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns-ers (we're sure Mr. Santorum's plum position on the banking committee had nothing to do with that). Most impressive, however, was Mr. Santorum's ability to recruit a real, live Frank Sinatra and Robert E. Lee!

-- Lizzy Ratner

More names after the jump:  read more »

There are some risks attached to changing the TV channel at your local bar—not all of them inv  read more »

There are some risks attached to changing the TV channel at your local bar—not all of them involvi  read more »

Channel 4's very well-sourced Jonathan Dienst(the same guy who had last fall's terror warning story) laid out the story behind the Central Labor Council raid just now, which appears to have focused on Council president Brian McLaughlin and a set of electrical contractors who -- Diesnt reports -- allegedly conspired with him to rip off the Department of Transportation.

The FBI's "Operation City Lights," according to the report (and Dienst had cameras in place at three separate raids) targeted McLaughlin's district office as well as the Labor Council's headquarters.

It sounds like an old-time bid-rigging scam: The suggestion is that electrical contractors divvied up neighborhoods, setting "low-bids" in advance, with other contractors deliberately bidding too high on street light contracts. McLaughlin was allegedly compensated with cash, an American Express card, and the installation of his alarm system.

McLaughlin, it's worth noting, came up as an electrical worker.

Also: Another huge black eye for the city's Department of Transportation.

You know those pain-in-the-ass (literally) counter stools they have at places like Starbucks and you  read more »

The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation announced today that it had surpassed the $100 million mark—the first indication of how much progress it has made towards its $500 million private fundraising goal. Biggest single donor ($25 million): AIG’s Starr Foundation, which is still chaired by Hank Greenberg even though he no longer runs the insurance company. Also, Deutsche Bank ($15 million) and Bank of New York ($10 million) pitched in, but no word yet from American Express or any of the other corporations that are looking down into that bathtub, waiting for it to be filled. -Matthew Schuerman  read more »

Lately, “good news” at Ground Zero has really just been the undoing of bad news: Goldman Sachs, Freedom Tower. At a lunch before the New York Building Congress today, the Governor delivered the first truly good news in a while: American Express is taking another 200,000 square feet in the World Financial Center.

Of course, there is still more than 4 million square feet of office space going up across the street at the World Trade Center, looking for a tenant--many tenants.  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman

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Crain's is reporting that Larry Silverstein has his first lease at 7 World Trade Center.

And it's not some wimpy government office, either:

"According to sources close to the deal, a unit of the American Express Co. is in the final stages of negotiating a 15-year lease for about 20,000 square feet at the 52-story skyscraper," the magazine reports.

Massive incentive packages for renting space in the building have Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, who calls the incentives his "Marshall plan," taking a lot of the credit for the lease-signing.  read more »

The Minneapolis-based AmEx subsidiary is soon to spin off the large financial services company. It'll be renamed RiverSource.

The ladies of Park Avenue have a big problem. Yes, they can't help it.  read more »

The ladies of Park Avenue have a big problem. Yes, they can't help it.  read more »

It's difficult for a hard-working New Yorker not to resent the hordes of British secretaries hogging up tables at restaurants and shouting at each other in Cockney accents from stall to stall in department-store fitting rooms, pockets crammed with fists-full of our weakling dollars. (O.K., that's enough of that: We're supposed to love the Brits this week.)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, however, seemed unperturbed today at the unveiling of a coupon package aimed at international tourists, and called "NYC Summer Breaks 2005."

Under a blistering sun, he stood at South Street Seaport's Pier 17, eagerly pimping the city for pounds and Euros.

"Visitors from overseas spend roughly five times what the domestic visitor spends," he offered.

Michael Piazzola, vice president of the Seaport Marketplace, smiled in agreement as some curious tourists peered on. (You'd be curious, too, if you saw something at South Street Seaport that seemed interesting.)

NYC & Company and American Express will promote dozens of restaurants, shows, and clubs throughout the five boroughs. With a special card from the packet, customers will get a discount at included venues if they use an American Express card. NYC and Company will distribute them through their outposts in London, Munich, Milan and Paris. They also work with tourist offices in Mexico and Argentina.

"We still need to capture the international visitor," said Chairman of NYC & Company Jonathan Tisch. "The international visitor stays longer and spends more."

And walks slower on the sidewalk.

According to one American Express representative, 25 out of their 65 million total cardholders are from outside the U.S.

Predictably, the United Kingdom sends the most tourists to New York each year, followed by Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and France, said Nancy Novogrod, Editor -in-Chief of Travel and Leisure magazine.

"Is Cirque du Soleil moving to the Seaport?" asked one onlooker, who claimed to be a Pier 17 tenant. "We want to know who's moving in."

Mayor Bloomberg — frighteningly well-known for his enthusiasm for the tarred-and-feathered circus-performers — said that was just a rumor, and added that he was not sure who was moving into a currently vacant storefront.

"Either Mr. Piazzola doesn't know, or he is witholding," he said.

He also pointed to plans to expand cruise ship facilities in Red Hook, Brooklyn as signs the city's profile among international tourists has further yet to climb. (Welcome to Red Hook, Europe! Keep your wallet in your front pocket, please!)  read more »

- Sara Levin

The Village Voice does some more digging on the question we looked at last week: Whether charitable donations to NYC2012, the Olympic bid committee, buy influence with the city.

The new information they have comes from Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff's schedule, obtained through the Freedom of Information Law, which show -- surprise! -- "that he frequently finds himself meeting and talking about city business with those who are also being asked to ante up Olympics contributions."

The piece also fills out some of the details of the repeated appearance of a conflict between Doctoroff's official duties and his Olympics crusade:

"On April 1, 2002, Doctoroff and Kriegel crossed the Hudson River to Jersey City to talk to top officials at American Express. The giant financial firm had been forced out of its downtown offices by the 9-11 attack, and was seeking governmental assistance in relocating. But that's not what the meeting was about, Kriegel said. The two men simply wanted to thank CEO Kenneth Chenault and Amex for its earlier contribution of $300,000 to NYC2012, he said.... About six weeks after the meeting, Amex was awarded $25 million from city and state agencies—a decision that would have moved across Doctoroff's desk—to help it return downtown."  read more »

WNYC's Andrea Bernstein, who worked on the Voice piece, will be doing a series of radio reports on the subject, the first at 5:40 p.m. today.

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