American Express to Cut About 5% of Its Workforce to “Prepare for AI” While Raising Its 2026 Outlook

American Express is cutting about 5 percent of its global workforce while reporting a profit beat and raising its outlook for the year. CEO Stephen Squeri told analysts on the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Friday, October 23, that the card issuer is taking a $336 million restructuring charge, CNBC reported. The company’s own explanation is that it wants to become leaner and to get ready for artificial intelligence, not that AI has already replaced the people involved.

For readers of a site about work, money and carrying yourself well on the job, the combination is the story: strong results on one side of the ledger, a layoff on the other, and a stated reason that looks forward rather than back.

The numbers behind the announcement

CNBC put the company’s headcount at almost 77,000 at the end of 2025. Benzinga, citing Squeri’s comments to Bloomberg, reported the plan as about 3,500 roles, roughly 5 percent of global staff. The two outlets round the base slightly differently, so treat the exact count as approximate until the company files more detail. The charge is $336 million before tax, or $253 million after tax, according to MarketScale’s summary of the earnings release.

The quarter itself was strong. Adjusted earnings came in at $4.68 a share against $4.48 expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG, CNBC reported. Revenue rose 9 percent to $20.06 billion, a shade under the $20.12 billion forecast, and executives attributed part of the drag to recent exits from small-business co-brand partnerships. Amex lifted its full-year earnings guidance to $18.30 to $18.60 a share on an unadjusted basis, up from $17.30 to $17.90, helped by proceeds from selling its stake in Global Business Travel Group, which also funded part of the restructuring. Shares fell in Friday trading, by roughly 4 percent in the afternoon per CNBC.

What “prepare for AI” means here

Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC the restructuring was meant to make Amex leaner, more agile and ready for AI. His explanation was specific about method: the company plans to reduce management layers and widen spans of control so that it can automate processes once they are structured well. Automating a messy process, he suggested, only makes the mess faster.

That framing is worth reading closely. The first wave of cuts described here is about the shape of the organization, with fewer layers between employees and decision-makers, rather than a list of jobs a model is now doing. MarketScale noted the company has not said AI is replacing the eliminated roles. The AI work is expected to follow in coming quarters and years, in Le Caillec’s words.

Squeri spent about ten minutes of his prepared remarks on AI, mostly on personalizing offers and experiences for cardholders, CNBC reported. He also said Amex will not let assistants “run rogue” through its systems and will allow outside AI agents to connect only through approved API or MCP channels, meaning two defined technical doorways rather than open access.

A wider pattern in financial services

CNBC pointed out that Amex is not alone. Barclays confirmed on Thursday that it plans to trim 5,000 jobs, also about 5 percent of its staff, in a technology-driven cost program. The moves come even as the sector enjoys healthy profits from consumer spending and resilient credit. We looked at the same tension in our piece on Netflix cutting about 1,000 jobs while profits grow: reductions no longer need a bad quarter to justify them.

Practical takeaways for people at work

Nothing in the reporting says what any individual employee should do, and every company’s situation is different. Still, a few general observations follow from the pattern:

• Middle layers are the visible target. When a company says it wants fewer layers and wider spans of control, the people affected are often managers and coordinators. Keeping a clear record of what your team delivers makes your own contribution easier to describe.
• Process knowledge is an asset. Le Caillec’s point about structure before automation suggests employees who understand how work actually flows have something a tool cannot supply on its own.
• Strong earnings are not a guarantee. Results and headcount have decoupled at several large employers this year. It is reasonable to keep a current resume and a short list of your best work, in a tidy portfolio or a good leather case, whatever the quarter looks like.

Amex said the charge is meant to improve efficiency and speed up innovation. Whether the plan delivers on that will show up in the coming quarters of results, and the company’s disclosures about where the roles are located and when the reductions occur will tell readers more than the headline does.

This article is general information about a business news event, not career, legal or financial advice.

Sources

• CNBC, “American Express is cutting 5% of its workforce to ‘prepare for AI’” (Oct. 23, 2026): cnbc.com
• Benzinga, “American Express raises profit outlook but layoff plans and rising costs draw scrutiny” (Oct. 23, 2026): benzinga.com
• MarketScale, “American Express will cut about 3,500 jobs while raising its 2026 forecast” (Oct. 23, 2026): marketscale.com