American Express to cut 5% of jobs as it reshapes itself for AI

What happened

On Friday's third-quarter earnings call, CEO Stephen Squeri said Amex will remove roughly 5% of its positions globally and took a $336 million charge, or 37 cents a share, to pay for it. The company had close to 77,000 staff at the end of 2025, CNBC reported. Part of the cost is covered by a gain of $1.11 a share from selling its stake in Global Business Travel Group. Adjusted earnings came to $4.68 a share, up 13% and above the $4.48 analysts expected, according to LSEG data cited by CNBC. Revenue grew 9% to $20.06 billion, slightly short of forecasts. Amex lifted its full-year reported earnings guidance to $18.30 to $18.60 a share. Its shares dropped about 4% in afternoon trading.

What it means

The cuts are not a sign of a business in trouble. Amex says card member spending rose 8%, net card fees jumped 17% on a currency-adjusted basis, and delinquencies have stayed at 1.2% or 1.3% for 15 quarters in a row. Instead, management describes the move as getting the house in order before handing more tasks to software. Chief financial officer Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC the aim was to make the company "leaner, more agile, and also to prepare for AI," explaining that it makes little sense to automate processes that are badly designed in the first place. Reducing management layers and giving each manager a wider team is the first step.

Timing matters too. Amex is using a one-off windfall, the Global Business Travel sale, to pay for the restructuring, so the charge does not dent its adjusted results. That lets the company absorb the cost of cutting jobs in a quarter when it can afford it, while still raising guidance. On the call, Squeri said he had asked senior leaders earlier this year to streamline their teams and speed up decisions, and that the program should free up money for marketing and technology.

Amex is not alone. CNBC noted that Barclays confirmed on Thursday it would trim about 5,000 roles, also near 5% of its workforce, as part of its own technology-driven savings push. Lenders are earning healthy profits from strong consumer spending, yet several are still shrinking headcount as they invest in AI and automation.

Squeri spent much of his prepared remarks on AI, but mostly from the customer side: personalized dining and travel offers, tools inside ChatGPT, and standards for AI agents that shop on a cardholder's behalf. He stressed that only approved outside agents would be allowed to connect to Amex systems, through secure channels such as APIs. The quarter also carried higher legal reserves, which include the unreserved part of a civil money penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a bank regulator; Amex said that fine does not change its 2026 guidance.

The bull case

Amex is restructuring from a position of strength, with record revenue, stable credit quality and a raised earnings outlook. Paying for the cuts with a one-off gain protects adjusted profit, and a flatter organization could make it cheaper and faster to roll out AI across customer service, marketing and disputes. If automation lifts margins over the coming years, the savings could support continued buybacks and dividends.

The bear case

Revenue missed forecasts slightly, and exits from small business co-brand card partnerships, including the Amazon portfolio sale, are dragging on spending and revenue growth. Job cuts on this scale can disrupt service and morale, and the payoff from AI is uncertain and years away. Legal reserves tied to a regulatory penalty are another reminder of compliance costs.