NEW YORK (AP) — American Express will acquire the dining reservation and event management platform Tock from Squarespace for $400 million cash.
AmEx began making acquisitions in the dining and event space with its purchase of Resy five years ago, giving cardmembers access to hard-to-get restaurants and locations. Other credit card issues have done the same. JPMorgan acquired The Infatuation as a lifestyle brand in 2021.
Tock, which launched in Chicago in 2014 and has been owned by Squarespace since 2021, provides reservation and table management services to roughly 7,000 restaurants and other venues. Restaurants signed up with Tock include Aquavit, the high end Nordic restaurant in New York, as well as the buzzy new restaurant Chez Noir in California.
Squarespace and Tock confirmed the deal Friday.
AmEx's purchase of Resy five years ago raised a lot of eyebrows in both the credit card and dining industries, but it's become a key part of how the company locks in high-end businesses to be either AmEx-exclusive merchants, or ones that give preferential treatment to AmEx cardmembers. The number of restaurants on the Resy platform has grown five fold since AmEx purchased the company.
AmEx also announced Friday it would buy Rooam, a contactless payment platform that is used heavily in stadiums and other entertainment venues. AmEx did not disclose how much it was paying for Rooam.
FILE - An American Express logo is attached to a door in Boston's Seaport District, July 21, 2021. American Express announced Friday, June 21, 2024, it will acquire the dining reservation and event management platform Tock from Squarespace for $400 million cash. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
HONG KONG (AP) — The sole candidate in the election for Macao’s next leader on Saturday pledged to diversify the economy of the Chinese casino city, a goal previously laid out by Beijing.
Sam Hou-fai, the city's former top judge, said at a news conference that the diversification is a key issue he must address. At a separate event, he told election committee members who will vote on Oct. 13 that the city has learned a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Macao's tourism and gaming industries suffered a big slump because of the virus controls before China rolled back its “zero-COVID” strategy in late 2022.
Sam said just relying on the gaming industry is not enough. “Otherwise, how could we handle it if big disasters arise?” he said.
Sam, 62, is widely expected to secure the leadership in next month's vote, during which a 400-member committee — mostly dominated by establishment figures — picks the leader. Most of the semi-autonomous territory’s population of 687,000 does not have a right to vote. He would be the city’s first leader from mainland China.
During the application period, he already received nominations from 386 committee members. The city’s safeguarding national security committee affirmed his loyalty to China and Macao.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed hopes that the former Portuguese colony can promote healthy and sustainable economic development and diversify its economy, which its gaming industry has dominated for decades. Macao is the only place in China where casinos are legal.
In May, incumbent Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng said the gaming industry accounted for less than 40% of the city’s gross domestic product, down from its past contribution of about 60%. Last year, his government rolled out a diversification plan to boost the tourism and leisure industry and other sectors such as traditional Chinese medicine, finance, and exhibition and commerce.
Ho decided not to seek reelection due to health reasons.
Sam was born in Guangdong province in 1962 and graduated from the law school of Peking University in Beijing. He studied the Portuguese language, culture and law at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. He once worked as a lawyer in mainland China.
Sam was the city’s top judge from when Macao returned to Chinese rule in 1999 until he resigned in August.
Critics have questioned his ability to administer a government given his lack of business and executive background.
He previously said he has worked and lived in Macao for nearly 40 years. He argued his understanding of Macao is no worse than that of many well-known figures and likened his experience of managing the city’s courts to running a small government.
Sam has also handled some politically sensitive cases during his tenure, including upholding the police’s ban on a vigil commemorating China’s bloody 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. The top court also ruled in the authorities’ favor over their decision to bar pro-democracy figures from joining the legislative election in 2021.
The sole candidate for the upcoming election for the Macao chief executive post, Sam Hou-fai, the city's former top judge, waits for questions near the slogans "Entrepreneurship and Solidarity, Persistence and Innovation" at a press conference at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex in Macao, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Kwan)
The sole candidate for the upcoming election for the Macao chief executive post, Sam Hou-fai, the city's former top judge, speaks near the slogans "Entrepreneurship and Solidarity, Persistence and Innovation" at a press conference at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex in Macao, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Kwan)
The sole candidate for the upcoming election for the Macao chief executive post, Sam Hou-fai, the city's former top judge, waves as he leaves the stage after a press conference at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex in Macao, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Kwan)
