American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT, legally, Global Business Travel Group, Inc.) is a multinational travel management company headquartered in New York City. Amex GBT has 18,000 employees in more than 140 countries. American Express holds a minority interest in Amex GBT, but the travel company operates as a separate entity from the financial services group.
History
In 2014 American Express 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, Macquarie Capital and funds managed by BlackRock and Teacher Retirement System of Texas. 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 (SPAC) backed by Apollo Global Management.
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 on May 31, 2022, with the symbol GBTG.