As the second-largest AmEx stockholder, with 50 million shares (Berkshire Hathaway is the largest), Davis had the clout to command several probing sessions with Kenneth Chenault, the CEO, on the options question.
"There is no question about the fact that the burdensome nature and the probing nature and the disclosure required for people coming into the administration is a deal killer for them, " said Kenneth Gross, a political law and ethics lawyer in Washington.