Yeah. I'm guessing it would be the acquisition of the credit card portfolio rather than the full enchilada.
It wouldn't be a bad move for WF I think though I haven't really looked at the Amex financials; we know WF's mortgage mill games are going to be coming to an end at some point, and I have no idea why they've let their credit card portfolio languish so much compared to everyone else. Interesting datapoint that even with their awkward credit cards they still have 1/3 the position that Chase et al does, but admittedly we're talking big ass numbers there which does skew it and I suspect the vast majority of consumers still have a credit card with their local bank and perhaps not much else based on average tradeline data stats that occasionally come out.
@sjt wrote:They are just rumors and Wells Fargo outright denied it. Wells Fargo is beefing up their investment banking.
It really doesnt make sense for Wells Fargo to aquire Amex. There would be issues with Visa and Mastercard and there are better ways to expand their credit card porfolio.
What I do think is interesting and would be perfect is for Amex to aquire PayPal.
Not sure, the big banks are going to be going head to head with Paypal when it comes to instant money transfers (though has to be between accounts at the group of banks, currently BOFA and USBank for this initial implementation as I understand it but in theory Chase and others are going to get on).
This may be related to the same-day ACH transfer capability which is rolling out in 6 months and a couple days, not sure as I only heard the story on NPR the other day and haven't looked for more detail; however, given the massive footprint of the banks and customer predilictions, it might catch on especially if they can do it cheaper for everyone involved and ACH transactions as I understand it are non-trivially cheaper than the Paypal model.
@sjt wrote:They are just rumors and Wells Fargo outright denied it. Wells Fargo is beefing up their investment banking.
It really doesnt make sense for Wells Fargo to aquire Amex. There would be issues with Visa and Mastercard and there are better ways to expand their credit card porfolio.
What I do think is interesting and would be perfect is for Amex to aquire PayPal.
Bite your tongue.
What i think would be more interesting and better fit for all 
would be for PayPal to acquire the inept Amex line
Amex dipped their toes far too much in the "unbanked" arena of those prepaid cards (Target Redbird, Serve, Bluebird etc.) that have created all sorts of fun for those peeps that lavished them for other purposes 
and IMO add to all that the Costco cancellation and they got their lunch handed to them.
@Anonymous wrote:I thought that E-bay acquired PayPal??? It would make sense. E-bay makes money from their site with fees and then fees at PayPal. It's a mega-scam in my opinion. I believe that they (E-bay) is gourging the average customer...JHMO.
MJH
Spun them off back in June of last year.
Actually Paypal was way more profitable than Ebay (hence their constantly jacking up their fees over the past few years), haven't looked at Ebay numbers post spinoff as I had no interest in investing in that company.