American Express to cut about 5% of its workforce as it prepares for AI

American Express is cutting about 5% of its global workforce, CEO Stephen Squeri told analysts on the company's third-quarter earnings call on Friday, Oct. 23. The company took a $336 million restructuring charge in the quarter tied to the cuts.

About 3,500 jobs

The reduction amounts to about 3,500 jobs, according to Reuters. Amex had almost 77,000 employees at the end of 2025, CNBC reported, and Squeri told Bloomberg TV the company now has about 78,000.

"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 on the call. He said leaders had been asked earlier this year to streamline their teams and reduce layers to speed up decisions.

Preparing for AI

Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC the restructuring was meant to make the company "leaner, more agile, and also to prepare for AI."

"You don't want to automate processes that are not optimally structured," Le Caillec said. "So 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."

Squeri also said Amex will only let outside AI agents reach its systems through approved API or MCP channels and is "not going to let assistants run rogue through our system," according to CNBC.

Profit forecast raised

Amex raised its 2026 profit forecast to $18.30 to $18.60 per share, from $17.30 to $17.90, above Wall Street expectations, Reuters reported. Shares closed down 3.7% on Friday.

Barclays said Thursday it is cutting about 5,000 jobs, Bloomberg reported.