Amex slashes 5% as it strips out management layers to clear the way for AI

American Express posted record quarterly revenue of $20.1 billion earlier today and has raised its full-year profit forecast. On the same earnings call, it said it would eliminate about 5% of its positions worldwide.

Chief executive Stephen Squeri told analysts the cuts grew out of a review he started earlier this year.

"I asked the senior leadership team to identify ways to streamline their organizations," he said. Leaders were told to focus their teams on the most critical work and remove layers that slow decisions.

Amex is booking a $336 million restructuring charge in the third quarter to cover the plan. The company employed approximately 76,800 people at the end of 2025, according to its annual report filed with the SEC, which puts 5% at about 3,800 roles. Bloomberg News reported that Squeri put the number at about 3,500. Amex did not say on the call which teams or countries would be affected.

Structure first, automation second

Chief financial officer Christophe Le Caillec tied the cuts more directly to artificial intelligence. He told CNBC the restructuring would make Amex leaner and ready for AI, because "you don't want to automate processes that are not optimally structured." The company plans to remove management layers and give the remaining managers wider spans of control, he said, and then automate more of its work over the next few years.

For HR teams, the order of operations is the notable part. Amex is redrawing reporting lines first and adding automation afterward, which puts org design, usually an HR responsibility, at the start of the company's AI rollout.

Squeri also described AI as a way to improve customer service. He said Amex has launched its first conversational AI voice agents and is giving colleagues AI tools to resolve customer problems faster, including complaints and disputes, while leaving staff to handle the cases that need personal attention. He added that this quarter's charge is larger than the company's typical restructuring charges.

Cutting after a record quarter

The cuts come in a strong year. Net income rose to $3.7 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier, earnings per share climbed 31% to $5.42, and Amex raised its full-year EPS guidance to between $18.30 and $18.60, according to its third-quarter 2026 earnings release. Part of a $982 million pre-tax gain from selling its stake in Global Business Travel Group is paying for the restructuring.

Other payments companies have made similar moves this year. Visa's 2,600 job cuts in July were presented as a way to reinvest in growth, and CEO Ryan McInerney wrote that "AI is also helping to accelerate this evolution."

Amex has made big cuts before. In 2013 it eliminated 5,400 jobs, about 8.5% of its workforce at the time, mostly in its travel business as customers moved bookings online, NPR reported. That round was concentrated in one business line. This round, as Squeri described it, is about management structure.

What flattening costs

Many employers are doing the same. In Korn Ferry's Workforce 2025 survey, 41% of employees said their organization had cut management layers.

Removing layers can speed up decisions, but it leaves the remaining managers with more direct reports and less time for coaching, and it shrinks the pool of future leaders. Deputy's Star Levandowski has argued that the great flattening of management layers delivers real gains "only when organizations are honest about the role middle managers actually play."

Squeri said the restructuring should give Amex more capacity to invest in its priorities. He did not say how the company will support managers who end up running larger teams.

How is Amex going to tell staff?

How Amex explains the cuts to its own staff could matter as much as the cuts. Employers cited AI in 120,136 announced US job cuts through September, about 21% of the year's total and the most common reason given, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. But the labor data doesn't fully back the AI layoff narrative, and HR leaders have been warned about AI washing, where AI is blamed for cuts made for other reasons.

Amex executives have described the restructuring as preparation, with the automation to follow. Keeping that distinction clear in manager briefings and exit conversations will take work. In a Resume Genius survey of 1,000 laid-off workers, 53% believed automation contributed to losing their job, and 73% of finance professionals believed AI played a direct role. Those suspicions are eroding trust in corporate leadership.

Lessons for HR leaders

• Map spans of control before removing layers. Decide how many direct reports a manager can realistically support, and which coordination work AI will actually take over, before the org chart changes.
• Rewrite the job for the managers who stay. If reporting and status updates are being automated, spell out what managers now own, such as coaching, judgment calls and customer escalations.
• State the real reason for the cut. If the driver is structure, say so. If AI is expected to take over specific tasks later, name them before rumors fill the gap.
• Plan for different rules in different countries. About two-thirds of Amex's workforce, roughly 50,900 people, is based outside the US, so notice and consultation requirements will vary. In the US, the federal WARN Act generally requires 60 days' written notice before a covered mass layoff.
• Track engagement through the cuts. In Amex's 2025 colleague survey, 91% of participants said they would recommend the company as a great place to work. Following that figure over the next year will show how the remaining staff took the restructuring.

Amex plans to give its 2027 financial outlook in January.