American Express announces job cuts after net profit rose to USD 3.7bn

American Express, the US payment card issuer, reported Q3 2026 revenue of USD 11.2bn, up 7.8% from USD 10.4bn in Q3 2025. Net profit grew faster, to USD 3.7bn from USD 2.9bn. That lifted the net margin, the share of revenue kept as profit, to 33.0% from 27.9%, a gain of 5.2 pp. Revenue added USD 817m and net profit added USD 810m, so almost every extra dollar of sales reached the bottom line.

A pattern like this appears when costs grow more slowly than sales. In a card business, technology, staff and overheads do not rise in step with customer spending, so growth in revenue flows to profit at a high rate. Kurzy.cz reported in October 2026 that the company announced a cut in its global workforce to hold back cost growth and speed up decisions. Equity stood at USD 35.8bn, or 11.5% of total assets of USD 310bn, against 10.9% a year earlier. The company is trimming costs in a quarter when profit was already growing, and I would watch whether the margin holds.