The latest American Express statistics, drawn from the company’s Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 SEC press releases, the FY 2025 Form 10-K, and Berkshire Hathaway’s Q1 2026 13F filing, show the issuer posted record full-year 2025 revenue of $72.2 billion, up 10% year-over-year, and entered 2026 with 153.9 million cards in force globally, up about 4% from the prior year. The Q1 2026 figures from American Express delivered revenue of approximately $18.9 billion (up 11%) and earnings per share of $4.28 (up 18%), setting the tone for what the company guides as another record year.
Millennials and Gen Z spending now sits just behind Gen X, the September 2025 Platinum refresh is converting that demographic into long-tail premium fee revenue, and the merchant-acceptance gap that defined the brand for three decades has effectively closed.
Key Takeaways
- American Express closed FY 2025 with $72.2 billion in total revenues net of interest expense, up 10% year-over-year (or 9% FX-adjusted).
- The company reported full-year 2025 net income of $10.8 billion and diluted EPS of $15.38, up 15% on an adjusted basis excluding the prior-year Accertify gain.
- Total cards in force reached 153.9 million at Q1 2026, with 87.2 million proprietary cards (up 3% YoY) and the remainder issued through third-party partner banks via Global Network Services.
- Net card fee revenues grew double digits for the 30th consecutive quarter through Q4 2025, the durable signal of premium-product traction.
- Card Member spending in Q1 2026 grew 10% on a reported basis, or 9% FX-adjusted, the highest quarterly growth rate in three years, driven by goods, services, travel and entertainment.
- American Express announced a quarterly dividend increase of approximately 16%, from $0.82 to $0.95 per share, starting with the Q1 2026 declaration.
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- Full-year billed business hit $1,669.8 billion in 2025, up 8% from $1,550.9 billion in 2024.
- Q1 2026 network volumes reached $486.3 billion, an 11% increase from $439.6 billion in Q1 2025.
- Total proprietary plus third-party cards in force at YE 2025: 86.6 million proprietary plus 66.2 million third-party = 152.8 million total.
- American Express is accepted at 160 million merchant locations worldwide as of mid-2025, roughly 5x the count in 2017.
- Millennials and Gen Z together generated approximately 35% of US consumer card spending in Q1 2025, just behind Gen X at 36%.
- Berkshire Hathaway owns more than 151 million AXP shares (around 22%), worth nearly $47.5 billion at Q1 2026.
Recent Developments
- April 23, 2026 – American Express reported Q1 2026 revenue of $18.9 billion (up 11%) and EPS of $4.28 (up 18%), with Card Member spending up 10% reported, or 9% FX-adjusted, the highest quarterly rate in three years.
- April 2026 – AmEx became the Official Payments Partner of the NFL globally and announced a multi-year NBA partnership extension covering the WNBA.
- Q1 2026 – Launch of the American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card, kicking off a major expansion of integrated solutions for businesses of all sizes.
- Q1 2026 – Introduction of the Amex Agentic Commerce Experiences developer kit and industry-first Amex Agent Purchase Protection.
- Q1 2026 – Quarterly dividend increase of approximately 16%, lifting the payout from $0.82 to $0.95 per share, beginning with the first-quarter 2026 declaration.
- Q1 2026 – Centurion Lounge openings in Las Vegas and New Delhi, with announced openings at Newark Liberty, Amsterdam Schiphol, Boston and Charlotte.
American Express Revenue and Earnings Trend
The five-year revenue trajectory documents how AmEx grew from a pandemic-era recovery to a record run on premium card fee revenue and net interest income. Full-year 2025 total revenues net of interest expense reached $72.229 billion, with consolidated provisions for credit losses of $5.3 billion and consolidated expenses of $53.2 billion. The full-year consolidated effective tax rate was 21.5%.
- FY 2025 EPS of $15.38 vs FY 2024’s $14.01 – up 10% reported, 15% on an adjusted basis.
- Q4 2025 alone contributed revenue of $19.0 billion (up 10%) and net income of over $2.46 billion.
- For FY 2024, AmEx reported revenue of $65.95 billion (up 9%) and net income of $10.13 billion.
| Metric | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | Q1 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenues net of interest expense | $65.9 billion | $72.2 billion | $18.9 billion |
| Net income | $10.1 billion | $10.8 billion | $3.0 billion |
| Diluted EPS | $14.01 | $15.38 | $4.28 |
| Billed business | $1,550.9 billion | $1,669.8 billion | $428.0 billion |
| Net write-off rate | 2.0% | 2.0% | 2.0% |
Source: American Express FY 2025 and Q1 2026 Earnings Press Releases (January 30, 2026 and April 23, 2026)
By the numbers: American Express reached $72 billion in annual revenue in 2025, lifted by Card Member spending and a 30th consecutive quarter of double-digit card-fee growth.
American Express Cards in Force Growth
- Year-end 2024 total cards in force stood at 146.5 million, consisting of 83.6 million proprietary cards and 62.9 million third-party cards issued through GNS partner banks.
- The company hit 149.4 million total cards-in-force at Q2 2025, with 85.2 million proprietary and 126.0 million basic cards-in-force.
- Cards in force at YE 2025: 86.6 million proprietary, 66.2 million third-party, 152.8 million combined.
- The Q1 2026 reading of 153.9 million total cards represented 4% year-over-year growth from 147.5 million at Q1 2025.
Each card represents a sustained revenue relationship; net card fees alone now run at a double-digit growth pace, a signal more relevant for premium issuers than raw card-count comparisons against open-loop networks such as the global Visa and Mastercard ecosystems.
American Express Segment Revenue Breakdown
- Q1 2026 consolidated non-interest revenues totaled $14,215 million across all segments.
- U.S. Consumer Services posted $5.8 billion in Q1 2026 segment non-interest revenues.
- International Card Services delivered double-digit billings growth for the 20th consecutive quarter in Q1 2026, a structural counter-narrative to the “AmEx is a US-only story” critique.
Key finding: International billings grew for 20 consecutive quarters through Q1 2026, compounding into a meaningfully different ICS profile than five years ago. The segment now contributes roughly 22% of consolidated non-interest revenues alongside the USCS anchor.
American Express Card Member Spending and Billed Business
American Express measures total Card Member spending as “billed business,” the sum of all purchases on proprietary cards. Full-year billed business grew from $1,459.6 billion in 2023 to $1,550.9 billion in 2024 (up 6%, or 7% FX-adjusted) and reached $1,669.8 billion in 2025 (up 8% year-over-year).
- Q1 2026 billed business of $428.0 billion represented 10% reported growth.
- Q4 2025 billed business reached $445.1 billion, up 9% year-over-year (8% FX-adjusted).
- Travel and Entertainment spend grew 9% FX-adjusted in Q1 2026, with Goods and Services up 8%, confirming the resilience of premium consumer spending relative to mass-market wallets such as Amazon Pay marketplace flows.
A simple per-card math illustrates the premium model. Dividing the $1,669.8 billion FY 2025 billed business across approximately 86.6 million proprietary cards yields roughly $19,283 in annual billed business per proprietary card. That figure dwarfs typical ticket averages flowing through PayPal checkout, where consumer-flow economics differ fundamentally from a closed-loop premium card model.
Marketplace volumes through similar e-commerce checkout flows carry their own lower ticket sizes typical of mass-market consumer rails.
American Express Merchant Acceptance Network
| Metric | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Global merchant locations | 160 million | June 2025 |
| Merchant acceptance growth (trailing 12 months) | +16% | through June 2025 |
| Growth multiple since 2017 | ~5x | 2017 to mid-2025 |
| US merchant acceptance parity | 99% | since end of 2019 |
| Transit authorities accepting AmEx | 700+ | as of mid-2025 |
Source: American Express Newsroom Press Release (September 9, 2025)
- American Express now sees 160 million merchant locations accepting its cards worldwide, with the network expanding approximately 5x since 2017.
- US merchant parity reached 99% of places that take credit cards by the end of 2019, effectively closing the historical acceptance gap with the broader financial service ecosystem.
- The trailing 12-month acceptance growth rate through June 2025 was more than 16%, with transit acceptance expanding into Beijing, Shanghai and San Francisco metro systems.
- AmEx Cards are now accepted by more than 700 transit authorities globally.
Millennials and Gen Z Share of US Card Spending
- In Q1 2025, American Express disclosed that Millennials and Gen Z together provided approximately 35% of US cardmember spending, compared with 36% for Gen X and 29% for Baby Boomers.
- Gen Z spending in the US Consumer segment grew 38% year-over-year, the fastest cohort growth rate on the platform.
- The Platinum Card refresh launched September 18, 2025, driving travel bookings through the Amex app up 30% year-over-year in Q4 2025, with US consumer spending at Resy restaurants up 20%.
Why it matters: Millennials and Gen Z generating about 35% of US card spending in Q1 2025, within roughly 1 percentage point of Gen X at 36% – a generational handoff that converts the most elite credit cards audience from a static affluent base into a self-replenishing pipeline. The Platinum refresh appears to be the catalyst, not the cause.
American Express Centurion Lounge and Global Travel Network
- American Express operates 32 Centurion Lounges worldwide as of 2026, with 16 locations in the US and 14 internationally.
- Las Vegas and New Delhi Centurion Lounges opened in Q1 2026, with additional locations announced for Newark Liberty, Amsterdam Schiphol, Boston and Charlotte.
- Through the Global Lounge Collection, AmEx Platinum cardholders access more than 1,550 airport lounges across 140 countries – the largest lounge access program from any card issuer.
- The Amsterdam Schiphol lounge will be AmEx’s first proprietary lounge in continental Europe, a 6,000-square-foot space.
- The Newark Liberty Centurion Lounge will feature a 14,000-square-foot indoor terrace.
The Centurion network is the visible front end of the premium travel experience that justifies a several-hundred-dollar annual fee on the consumer Platinum and higher fees on commercial variants, a moat no aggregator-style competitor like Discover has attempted to replicate at scale.
American Express Net Write-Off Rate and Credit Quality
- Full-year 2024 net write-off rate was 2.0%, compared to 1.8% in 2023.
- Full-year 2025 net write-off rate held flat at 2.0%, with Q4 2025 ticking up to 2.1% from 1.9% a year earlier.
- Q1 2026 reverted to 2.0%, slightly below the 2.1% prior-year quarter, with consolidated provisions for credit losses of $1.3 billion.
The credit metrics matter because they validate the premium-card thesis: AmEx underwrites a smaller, more affluent base than mass-market issuers, and the write-off rate has stayed in a tight 1.8%-2.1% band even as billed business grew $200 billion+ from 2023 to 2025. The trade-off – lower card count, higher spend per card, better credit – is what produces 30 consecutive quarters of double-digit net card fee growth.
American Express Dividend, Buybacks and Shareholder Returns
- American Express announced in January 2026 that it would raise its quarterly dividend by approximately 16%, from $0.82 to $0.95 per share, starting with the Q1 2026 declaration.
- The new $0.95 quarterly rate implies an annualized dividend of $3.80 per share.
- The company reaffirmed FY 2026 guidance of 9-10% revenue growth and EPS between $17.30 and $17.90.
Berkshire Hathaway and Other Major AXP Shareholders
- Berkshire Hathaway holds more than 151 million AXP shares, equivalent to roughly 22% of outstanding stock, worth nearly $47.5 billion at Q1 2026.
- Warren Buffett’s firm began purchasing AmEx in 1991 with preferred shares, converting to common stock by 1994, making AmEx one of Berkshire’s longest-held positions.
- American Express is currently the second-largest equity position in Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio.
- Annual dividend income to Berkshire from AXP runs at approximately $576 million per year before the 2026 increase.
American Express vs Visa and Mastercard Competitive Position
American Express occupies a structurally different competitive position than Visa and Mastercard. The networks rely on interchange revenue from billions of cards; AmEx earns higher discount-rate revenue from a smaller premium base plus net card fee revenue that the open-loop networks cannot collect directly.
- AmEx Q1 2026 cards in force totaled 153.9 million, reflecting the closed-loop premium model.
- Annual billed business per AmEx proprietary card in 2025 was approximately $19,283, a multiple higher than typical network averages.
- AmEx ranked #1 in U.S. Small Business Credit Card Customer Satisfaction by J.D. Power for the fifth consecutive year in 2025.
- The company was named #10 on Fortune’s 2026 World’s Most Admired Companies list.
Resy, Tock and the American Express Dining Ecosystem
AmEx is building a hospitality-network spine adjacent to the card business – a strategic bet that owning the restaurant reservation flow deepens engagement that pays back in spend.
- American Express acquired Tock and Rooam in 2024, with integration plans surfacing in Q1 2026.
- The Resy-Tock merger announced in Q1 2026 will bring 25,000+ Tock venues into the Resy platform in summer 2026.
- In Q1 2026, AmEx announced a multi-year partnership with Toast covering personalized hospitality experiences across Resy, Tock and Toast restaurant networks.
- The Platinum dining credit launched in September 2025 drove a 36% increase in Platinum cardholder reservations within three weeks of launch, with credit values of $100-$400 by card tier.
American Express Quarterly Performance Snapshot
The trailing five-quarter view documents the steady climb to record performance, with FY 2025 revenue capping the period and Q1 2026 EPS continuing the upward trajectory. Headline cells are bolded in the table below.
How many people have an American Express card?
As of Q1 2026, 153.9 million American Express cards are in force globally, including 87.2 million proprietary cards (up 3% year-over-year), with the remainder issued by partner banks through the Global Network Services business. The number continues on pace with the multi-year trend.
Does Warren Buffett still own American Express?
Yes. Berkshire Hathaway remains the largest single shareholder; the firm holds more than 151 million shares (about 22% of outstanding stock), worth nearly $47.5 billion at Q1 2026. The position originated in 1991, and AmEx is the second-largest holding in Berkshire’s equity portfolio per the most recent 13F filing.
Is American Express declining?
No. American Express set a record full-year revenue of $72.2 billion in 2025, up 10% year-over-year. The company also reaffirmed FY 2026 guidance for 9-10% revenue growth and EPS of $17.30 to $17.90. The “declining” framing appears in some search queries but does not match the FY 2024, FY 2025, or Q1 2026 financials.
Conclusion
American Express closed 2025 with $72.2 billion in revenue and a 30th consecutive quarter of double-digit card-fee growth. The Millennials and Gen Z generational shift, Platinum refresh outcomes, 160 million merchant acceptance footprint, and Resy/Tock dining ecosystem each point at the same conclusion: AmEx is converting demographic and structural tailwinds into spend that smaller-card-count, higher-fee-per-card economics convert into outsized returns.
The Q1 2026 results plus the FY 2026 guidance reaffirm that management sees no near-term ceiling. Watch the international segment – 20 consecutive quarters of double-digit billings growth – and the Resy-Tock integration outcome through summer 2026 as the two highest-leverage data points for whether the FY 2026 EPS lands at the high end of the $17.30-$17.90 range.
