The passing away of AmEx prez Ed Gilligan, after he suddenly “took sick” while on one of the company’s private jets, is the subject of speculation this weekend, since no definitive cause of death has been determined.
The curious incident happened on Friday during Gilligan’s flight from Tokyo to New York, and efforts to resuscitate the 55-year-old executive once he succumbed to the sudden life-threatening attack dismally failed.
Later that day, a spokeswoman for American Express confirmed their corporate president had indeed dramatically died, but claimed to not know the nature of the sudden illness which so quickly led to his midair demise.
Gilligan’s startling death removes his name from the list of contenders vying to replace AmEx’s 60-something CEO Ken Chenault, rumored to be considering retirement.
Chenault has presided over tumultuous times at the financial behemoth, and it was on his watch that the company’s shares fell 14-percent in value this year.
That stomach-churning plummet presumably followed the termination of AmEx’s exclusive relationship with powerhouse Costco, as well as the company’s recent loss in an antitrust suit brought against it by the U.S. government.
Ed Gilligan was a versatile cog in American Express for roughly three decades and served as its president since 2013; thus it seems rather doubtful that the loss of his expertise now will effect a positive turnaround for the embattled corporation.
Then again, the machinations of Big Money are not always apparent nor logical to the out-of-the-loop “little guy.” So who knows if Gilligan’s untimely death -- whether by natural causes, coincidence, or even poison -- isn’t regarded by the powers-that-be as “perfect timing.”
