Originally Posted by
ffsim
While I agree with your assertion that they believed they "clearly" didn't need to re-sign at any cost, I think they were wrong in their belief.
I think the deal probably went the other way. I think Costco Canada probably saw there were far more advantages to dumping Amex in Canada and partnering up with CapitalOne/Mastercard. That deal with Mastercard and CapitalOne came about so quickly, that it must've been in the works for a long, long time beforehand and not just as a fall-back option in case Amex backed out. I would bet that it was CostCo's intention all along to dump Amex and go with CapitalOne/MasterCard, and Amex was either unwilling or unable to offer a better deal.