AMERICAN EXPRESS BOSS QUITS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 31, 1993                   TAG: 9301310089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short
AMERICAN EXPRESS BOSS QUITS
Unable to reverse waves of pressure from angry shareholders and directors who wanted him ousted, James D. Robinson III resigned as chairman of struggling American Express Co., the company confirmed Saturday.
Robinson, 57, who led the nation's second-biggest financial services company for nearly 16 years, resigned late Friday. The move came four days after he had mounted a successful countercoup against the board to retain power.
He became the third CEO of a major company to resign in the last week under intense pressure, joining the heads of IBM and Westinghouse Electric Corp.
"In this environment, I think I drew an unnecessary amount of criticism," Robinson said. "But perception is reality and I decided to deal with it."'
On Monday, American Express' board voted 15-4 to keep Robinson as chairman and promote his hand-picked successor, Harvey Golub, to chief executive. The board last September had asked Robinson to lead a search for his successor, after he told them he planned to step down before the company's mandatory retirement age of 60.
But three board members resigned in protest, the company's stock price fell nearly 13 percent in four days and institutional shareholders were outraged.
Robinson said in a statement he was resigning because "the good of the company has always been and continues to be my primary and overriding concern."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB