- American Express is eliminating about 5% of its global workforce and taking a $336 million restructuring charge, CEO Stephen Squeri told analysts on Friday’s third-quarter earnings call. Squeri told Bloomberg TV the company has 78,000 employees, meaning the move will affect about 3,500 jobs.
- CFO Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC the goal is to make Amex “leaner, more agile, and also to prepare for AI” by reducing layers and widening spans of control before automating processes. Part of the proceeds from Amex’s sale of its stake in Global Business Travel Group, which produced a $751 million after-tax gain, went into the restructuring plan.
- The cuts came alongside a profit beat, with adjusted EPS of $4.68 versus the $4.48 LSEG estimate, and full-year guidance raised to $18.30 to $18.60 per share from $17.30 to $17.90. But billed business, a measure of transactions on its cards and other products, came in at $454 billion, shy of the $456.9 billion average estimate in a Bloomberg survey, and revenue rose 9% to $20.06 billion, slightly below the $20.12 billion forecast.
- Costs are rising as Amex fights to keep premium card members, with expenses up about 9% to $14.5 billion, though below the $14.8 billion analyst estimate. Member rewards costs rose 10% and marketing expenses 11%, and shares were down 1.8% at $319.45 in early New York trading, extending this year’s drop to nearly 14%.
What Happened?
American Express said Friday it is cutting about 5% of its global workforce and booking a $336 million restructuring charge, disclosed on its third-quarter earnings call. Squeri said the cuts reflect a desire to make the company more agile and efficient, reduce layers and speed up decision making. He devoted a 10-minute section of his prepared remarks to AI, focusing on personalizing experiences and offers for cardholders, and said Amex is “not going to let assistants run rogue through our system.” He also described the fight for premium cardholders as “highly competitive,” adding that Amex assumes it will remain so, after the company refreshed cards and added a raft of new Platinum perks last year.
Why It Matters?
Amex is restructuring from a position of strength, not distress, which signals that AI-driven cost cutting is becoming a strategic choice for profitable lenders rather than a crisis response. Le Caillec’s point that you should not automate processes that are not optimally structured suggests the savings come in two stages, first from flattening management layers and then from automation. The guidance raise was helped by the Global Business Travel Group stake sale, so investors will separate one-time gains from underlying earnings power. Truist Securities analysts called the headline good but the details “more mixed,” pointing to slower billed business growth, which the company partly tied to exits from some small-business co-brand deals.
What’s Next?
Investors will watch how quickly the job cuts translate into lower operating expenses, especially with rewards and marketing costs climbing and Le Caillec having guided to marketing expenses rising around 10% in the second half of 2026. Squeri’s comments on agents point to Amex positioning itself as a gatekeeper for AI shopping assistants, which could become a new battleground with merchants and tech platforms. Amex also faces a $350 million fine after the OCC and the Federal Reserve brought anti-money-laundering enforcement actions earlier this month, though it has said the penalty will not affect its 2026 guidance or any 2027 outlook. Further bank layoffs tied to AI, after Barclays confirmed 5,000 job cuts this week, would confirm a sector-wide trend.
