American Express Co. is the latest bold-faced U.S. giant ready to slash payroll in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). On Friday, it announced a 5% reduction of its global workforce aimed at streamlining operations and integrating AI into its core business processes.
The move impacts roughly 3,840 employees, based on the company’s headcount of approximately 76,800 workers at the close of 2025. Amex will absorb a $336 million restructuring charge tied to the layoffs, funded in part by proceeds from the recent sale of its stake in Global Business Travel Group.
Amex CEO Stephen Squeri disclosed the cuts to analysts during the company’s third-quarter earnings call, describing the reorganization as a vital step to sharpen operational velocity.
“We’ve got good momentum, but to accelerate innovation and win over the next few years, we needed to become a more agile and efficient organization,” Squeri said. “When completed, we believe this exercise will help us operate and execute more effectively and give us greater capacity to invest in our business priorities.”
Company Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec clarified that the staff reductions are designed to prepare internal workflows for algorithmic automation. “You don’t want to automate processes that are not optimally structured,” Le Caillec said. “What we’re doing here is to reduce layers and increase spans of controls, so that we can automate and take advantage of AI in the coming quarters and the coming years.”
The announcement underscores an intensifying shift across the financial services sector, where institutions are deploying AI to automate repetitive white-collar tasks despite healthy consumer spending and resilient credit.
British lender Barclays confirmed plans on Thursday to eliminate 5,000 positions, while competitors Citigroup and HSBC both implemented 10% staff reductions earlier this year.
During the briefing, Squeri spent considerable time outlining Amex’s AI roadmap, emphasizing plans to hyper-personalize cardholder offers while maintaining strict operational guardrails. Squeri pledged that the company will not allow outside AI assistants to “run rogue” across its infrastructure, restricting third-party access strictly to vetted API and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations.
The restructuring overshadowed an otherwise robust third-quarter earnings report. Amex posted adjusted earnings per share of $4.68, topping Wall Street expectations of $4.48, alongside record revenue of $20.06 billion, up 9% year over year. Citing solid operating fundamentals, management lifted its full-year unadjusted earnings forecast to between $18.30 and $18.60 per share.
Despite beating earnings expectations, American Express shares slipped roughly 3% to 4% in Friday trading. Analysts attributed the decline to revenue falling marginally shy of consensus targets, headwinds from the company’s departure from select small-business co-brand partnerships, and broader market softness driven by spiking crude oil prices.
