American Express cuts 5 percent of workforce to prepare for AI

American Express is eliminating about 5 percent of its global workforce and taking a 336 million dollar restructuring charge, saying the cuts will make it leaner and prepare it for artificial intelligence.

Why it matters: Amex, with almost 77,000 employees at the end of 2025, is one of the largest financial firms to tie a workforce reduction of this size explicitly to AI preparation, on the same day it reported third-quarter results.

Data as of CNBC report of October 23, 2026, read in full, reporting Chief Executive Stephen Squeri on the company's earnings call and Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec speaking to CNBC; single-sourced to CNBC at the time of writing, and the report gives no absolute number of jobs cut and no completion date. Developing item.

American Express is cutting about 5 percent of its global workforce, CNBC reported on Friday after the company released third-quarter results, in a restructuring it is taking a 336 million dollar charge for in the quarter, a charge of the kind that typically covers severance. The company had almost 77,000 employees at the end of 2025 and did not give an absolute number of jobs to go in the report.

Chief Executive Stephen Squeri told the earnings call the company had good momentum but needed to become more agile and efficient to accelerate innovation and win over the next few years. Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC the aim was to make Amex leaner and more agile and also to prepare for AI, reducing layers and increasing spans of control so the company can automate and take advantage of AI in the coming quarters and years.

American Express cuts 5 percent of workforce to prepare for AI

Sources