Company profile
SEC EDGAR ↗- Industry
- Finance Services
- Listed
- NYSE: AXP
- Incorporated
- NY
- Headquarters
- New York, NY
- Fiscal year end
- Dec 31
Financials
FY2025- Revenue
- $41.3B
- Net income
- $10.8B
- Total assets
- $300.1B
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Total assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $41.3B | $10.8B | $300.1B |
| FY2024 | $38.8B | $10.1B | $271.5B |
| FY2023 | $37.2B | $8.37B | $261.1B |
| FY2022 | $34.2B | $7.51B | $228.4B |
| FY2021 | $27.7B | $8.06B | $189.0B |
| FY2020 | $22.0B | $3.13B | $191.0B |
Reported fiscal years from SEC filings (10-K) — SEC EDGAR ↗. Stratrix is a strategy publication, not a real-time financial data service.
Decisions on record
4 verified Decision Records on American Express, and the casebook each one belongs to.
| Fork date | Decision type | The story | Casebook |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | The Money Machine | Read the story → | The Money Machine Casebook → |
| 1991 | The Pricing Lens | Read the story → | The Pricing Lens Casebook → |
| 2014 | The Money Machine | Read the story → | The Money Machine Casebook → |
| 2018 | Moat Anatomy | Read the story → | Moat Anatomy Casebook → |
Run one of these yourself
The decisions American Express faced, as kits you can run.
Each pack takes one of these decisions and gives you the framework, a deck for the room, a model that resolves to one number, and the sourced cases behind it. $499, one-time.
Business ModelThe Money MachineWhere does the money actually come from, and who sets the rate it comes in at?See the pack →Moat & CompetitionThe Moat AnatomyWhat would it actually cost a challenger to take your customer?See the pack →Business ModelThe Pricing Model ChangeWhat does changing how you charge cost before it starts paying?See the pack →
The analyses
The Money Machine · Business Model
Amex's Closed Loop Covers Only the High-Spend Core; the Prize Is the Data Left Behind
Everyone calls American Express a closed-loop network that owns every merchant and cardholder. Its own filings say otherwise: third parties run the long tail. The closed loop holds for the high-spend core - direct merchants are the minority of locations but command the lion's share of the dollars - and the real asset is the data those transactions leave behind.
8 min
The Money Machine · Business Model
Amex Bills Merchants to Reach Rich Spenders, Then Bills the Spenders $8.4B in Fees
Visa taxes transactions. Amex taxes affluence — twice. It bills merchants ~1.4–3.3% to reach high spenders, then bills the spenders an annual fee that grew double-digit for 26 straight quarters and hit $8.4B in 2024.
8 min
Moat Anatomy · Moat & Competition
Amex's Floor Is a Closed Loop and a 5-4 Ruling; Its Ceiling Is One Airline at 12% of Spend
Everyone says Amex's moat is its wealthy cardholders. The real floor is a closed-loop data engine and a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling. The ceiling: a fee gap that's collapsed to 1.6%, and a single airline that drives 12% of all spending.
8 min
The Moat Anatomy · Moat & Competition
Capital One Bought a Closed Loop for $35.3 Billion; Amex's Flywheel Is What It Didn't Get
In February 2025, Capital One bought Discover for $35.3 billion and acquired the very thing analysts call Amex's unique advantage — a closed-loop network. So what actually protects American Express? Not the loop. The flywheel running inside it.
8 min
The Pricing Play · Business Model
When 250 Restaurants Revolted, Amex Built Two More Places to Charge
In 1991 Amex charged restaurants ~4% while Visa charged ~1.2%, and 250 of them revolted. The fix wasn't to cut the merchant fee. It was to build two more places to charge — and in H1 2025, card fees grew 20% while merchant revenue grew 6%.
8 min
The Premium Toll · Business Model
Amex Charges Merchants More So It Can Pay Cardholders More. The Loop Is the Whole Trick.
The story is that Amex skims a fatter fee out of greed. The truth is structural: Amex owns all three seats at the table, recycles the extra economics into rewards, and on $1.55 trillion of spend in 2024 the loop pays for itself.
7 min