Amex GBT Cuts $100 Million as Small-Business Push Hits Headwinds

American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) said Tuesday it continued to pursue a two-pronged strategy as the world's largest travel-management company: maintaining its lead in serving multinational corporations while aggressively expanding into the fragmented small- and medium-sized business market.

The strategy led to measured growth in the third quarter. Transaction volume rose 9% year-over-year, while revenue rose 5%.

Yet the company posted a net loss of $128 million. It hasn't broken even since the pandemic.

The company said its cost-cutting program this year should generate $100 million in savings. The cuts were part of a three-year plan for cost reductions that began last year and included layoffs. The $100 million figure for this year was first quantified on Tuesday.

Adjusted EBITDA jumped 23% to $118 million, with 300 basis points of margin expansion.

Amex GBT has seen share gains among two customer segments: large corporates and smaller players.

Amex GBT said it won $3 billion worth of new business (measured as "expected annual average total transaction value") over 12 months through September 30.

About two-thirds of that estimated value came from new small- and medium-sized clients.

Yet existing customer spending diverged across the segments. Global mu