Overview
American Express Co. is a global payments company and premium lifestyle brand whose integrated business combines card issuing, merchant acquiring and a payments network. Its offerings include credit and charge cards, travel and lifestyle services, expense-management tools, banking and lending, and merchant payment processing and related services. Its principal operating segments are U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The company serves consumers and businesses internationally; third-party network partners operate in approximately 110 countries and territories. In 2025, American Express reported $72.229 billion in revenue net of interest expense and said it had over 70,000 colleagues globally. The company’s stated aim is to “provide the world’s best customer experience every day.” [7][8][9][10] [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][10][9]
Products & services
American Express offers consumer credit and charge cards across premium travel, rewards and cash-back categories. Named U.S. products include the Platinum, Gold and Green Cards, and Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday; its portfolio also includes cobranded cards with partners such as Delta, Marriott, British Airways and Hilton. Platinum is positioned around travel and lifestyle benefits, while Gold and Blue Cash products emphasize rewards and cash back.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
For businesses, products include the Business Platinum Card, Business Gold Card and Blue Business Cash Card, as well as corporate card programs, central billing, B2B payments and expense-management services. Other offerings include business checking and savings accounts, small-business lines of credit, consumer installment loans, and cash- and expense-management services.[17][18][19][20][21][22]
Amex issues credit, charge and debit cards and operates payment-processing and settlement services. Merchant services support direct merchant relationships and third-party acquirers; its OptBlue program enables acquirers to contract directly with small merchants.[23][24][25] Additional services include Membership Rewards, travel and lifestyle benefits such as lounge access and dining experiences, restaurant reservations through Resy and Tock, the Amex Travel App, and digital tools such as Send & Split and Plan It.[26][27][17][28][29][30]
For 2025, reported revenue lines included $37.401 billion of discount revenue, $9.993 billion of net card fees, $7.471 billion of service fees and other revenue, and $17.364 billion of net interest income; these were approximately 51.8%, 13.8%, 10.3% and 24.0%, respectively, of total revenues net of interest expense. These are revenue categories, not product-level profitability figures.[8] [11][17][23][26][27][28][8][12][13][14][15][16][18][19][20][21][22][24][25][29][30]
Geographic presence
American Express’s card-network business operates through relationships with third-party banks and other institutions in approximately 110 countries and territories. Its 2025 disclosures identify the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, Japan, Canada and Mexico as jurisdictions contributing a significant portion of billed business; they do not provide revenue by country or region.[7][31]
At December 31, 2025, American Express reported 86.6 million proprietary cards-in-force worldwide and 66.2 million third-party-issued cards-in-force worldwide.[31][32] Its principal executive offices are in New York City.[33] The company’s careers site describes a global workforce of more than 70,000 colleagues and lists 55 office locations worldwide, including offices in New York, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Sunrise, London, Singapore, Sydney and Gurgaon; it does not give employee counts by geography.[34][9][35][36][37][38][39][40] [7][31][32][33][34][9][35][36][37][38][39][40]
Business segments
American Express’s latest full-year segment information is for fiscal 2025. It reports four operating segments; approximate contributions below compare each segment’s reported revenue with consolidated total revenues net of interest expense.[41][42]
U.S. Consumer Services (USCS) focuses on proprietary consumer cards and services in the United States, including travel, lifestyle, banking and non-card financing offerings; it also manages the dining platform. It reported $34.814 billion, or approximately 48.2% of consolidated total.[43][44][42]
Commercial Services (CS) serves U.S. businesses through corporate and small-business cards and services, including payment and expense management, banking and non-card financing; it also serves select global corporate clients. It reported $16.926 billion, approximately 23.4%.[45][46][42] International Card Services (ICS) provides proprietary consumer, small-business and corporate card products and services outside the United States, and includes certain joint ventures and loyalty-coalition business. It reported $13.000 billion, approximately 18.0%.[47][48][42]
Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS) operates the payments network and includes merchant acquisition and services, network partnerships, marketing programs and data analytics. It reported $7.759 billion, approximately 10.7%.[23][49][42] The segment amounts total $72.499 billion, versus consolidated total revenues net of interest expense of $72.229 billion; accordingly, the percentages are approximate and do not sum precisely to 100%.[44][46][48][49][42] [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][23][49]
Company history
American Express was formed on March 18, 1850, when Henry Wells, William G. Fargo, and John Butterfield combined their express businesses, initially focused on transporting packages and valuables. It expanded into financial services with money orders in 1882 and Travelers Cheques in 1891, then opened a Travel Department in 1915.[50][51]
The company launched its first card in 1958 and an Executive Card in 1966; in 1972, it began partnering with financial institutions to expand its international card business. In 1984, American Express acquired Investors Diversified Services (IDS) and introduced the Platinum Card. In 1994, it announced plans to spin off Lehman Brothers, reflecting a shift away from its financial-services conglomerate strategy. It acquired restaurant-reservation platform Resy in 2019.[52][51][53][54][55] [50][51][52][53][54][55]
Sources
- AMERICAN EXPRESS CO — Full financial report (2025 Y)
- www.americanexpress.com[9]
- www.americanexpress.com[12]
- www.americanexpress.com[13]
- www.americanexpress.com[14]
- www.americanexpress.com[15]
- www.americanexpress.com[16]
- www.americanexpress.com[18]
- www.americanexpress.com[19]
- www.americanexpress.com[20]
- www.americanexpress.com[21]
- www.americanexpress.com[22]
- www.americanexpress.com[24]
- www.americanexpress.com[25]
- www.americanexpress.com[29]
- www.americanexpress.com[30]
- www.americanexpress.com[34]
- www.americanexpress.com[35]
- www.americanexpress.com[36]
- www.americanexpress.com[37]
- www.americanexpress.com[38]
- www.americanexpress.com[39]
- www.americanexpress.com[40]
- www.americanexpress.com[50]
- www.americanexpress.com[51]
- www.americanexpress.com[52]
- www.americanexpress.com[53]
- www.sec.gov[54]
- www.americanexpress.com[55]
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