American Express

RANK312

Business and leisure travel tanked as the pandemic forced companies and consumers to swap trips for Zoom meetings and staycations. That hit American Express hard, pulling the firm down 61 spots on the Global 500 this year as profits cratered nearly 54% in 2020. But things are improving for the credit card titan: Overall card member spending is on the rebound; AmEx CFO Jeffrey Campbell expects the firm’s embattled travel and entertainment spending segment to recover to roughly 70% of its 2019 levels by the fourth quarter; and the company is now aiming to achieve in 2022 the earnings it had originally expected last year.