American Express vs Oracle: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
American Express reported $72.2B of revenue in FY2025 and $10.8B of net income. Oracle reported $67.4B of revenue in FY2026 and $17.1B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
American Express
- Latest revenue
- $72.2B (FY2025)
- Net income
- $10.8B
- Net margin
- 15.0%
- Revenue growth
- +8.2% a year, FY2016–FY2025
Oracle
- Latest revenue
- $67.4B (FY2026)
- Net income
- $17.1B
- Net margin
- 25.4%
- Revenue growth
- +6.6% a year, FY2017–FY2026
Financial summary
American Express
American Express reported $72.2 billion in total revenues net of interest expense for FY2025, up 10 percent, and $10.8 billion of net income, or $15.38 per diluted share. The mix is less fee-only than its premium image suggests: discount revenue on merchant transactions was $37.4 billion, net interest income on card member loans was $17.4 billion, net card fees were $10.0 billion and service fees and other revenue were $7.5 billion. Growth in 2025 came disproportionately from the two smaller lines, with net card fees up 18 percent and net interest income up 12 percent against 6 percent growth in discount revenue. Return on average equity was 33.9 percent, the net write-off rate on consumer and small business loans and receivables was 2.0 percent, and the company declared $3.28 per share in dividends while average diluted shares fell from 713 million to 696 million.
Oracle
Oracle's revenue grew from $39.1 billion in FY2020 to $57.4 billion in FY2025 and $67.36 billion in FY2026, when net income was $17.09 billion. Growth is now driven by cloud: Q1 FY2027 cloud revenue (IaaS plus SaaS) was $11.6 billion, up 62%, and operating cash flow was a record $23 billion for the quarter. The other side of the ledger is capex. FY2026 capital spending of $55.7 billion pushed free cash flow negative, and Oracle has funded the gap with bond issuance and equity sales. Management guides to at least $90 billion of FY2027 revenue and non-GAAP EPS of $8.10.
Revenue and profit by year
American Express
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $72.2B | $10.8B | 15.0% | +9.5% | Source |
| FY2024 | $65.9B | $10.1B | 15.4% | +9.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $60.5B | $8.4B | 13.8% | +14.5% | Source |
| FY2022 | $52.9B | $7.5B | 14.2% | +24.7% | Source |
| FY2021 | $42.4B | $8.1B | 19.0% | +17.4% | Source |
| FY2020 | $36.1B | $3.1B | 8.7% | -17.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $43.6B | $6.8B | 15.5% | +8.0% | Source |
| FY2018 | $40.3B | $6.9B | 17.2% | +9.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $36.9B | $2.7B | 7.5% | +4.1% | Source |
| FY2016 | $35.4B | $5.4B | 15.2% | — | Source |
Oracle
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $67.4B | $17.1B | 25.4% | +17.3% | Source |
| FY2025 | $57.4B | $12.4B | 21.7% | +8.4% | Source |
| FY2024 | $53B | $10.5B | 19.8% | +6.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $50B | $8.5B | 17.0% | +17.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $42.4B | $6.7B | 15.8% | +4.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $40.5B | $13.7B | 34.0% | +3.6% | Source |
| FY2020 | $39.1B | $10.1B | 25.9% | -1.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $39.5B | $11.1B | 28.1% | +0.3% | Source |
| FY2018 | $39.4B | $3.6B | 9.1% | +4.2% | Source |
| FY2017 | $37.8B | $9.5B | 25.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
American Express
- Discount Revenue (Merchant Fees)~52%
Discount revenue is the fee American Express charges merchants on card transactions. It was $37,401 million in FY2025, up 6 percent, and equalled 2.24 percent of billed business. It remains the largest revenue line and moves with billed business, merchant mix and geography.
- Net Interest Income~24%
Net interest income is earned on card member loans and receivables after funding costs. It was $17,364 million in FY2025, up 12 percent, on a net interest yield of 8.1 percent, helped by growth in revolving balances and by lending features added to charge card products.
- Net Card Fees~14%
Net card fees are the annual fees on consumer, small business and corporate cards. They reached $9,993 million in FY2025, up 18 percent, at an average of $117 per proprietary card in force, driven by new acquisitions on fee-paying products and by the 2025 Platinum refresh.
- Service Fees and Other Revenue~10%
Service fees and other revenue was $7,471 million in FY2025, up 10 percent. It covers network partnership revenue from cards issued by partner banks, foreign currency fees on cross-currency spending, loyalty coalition and merchant service fees, delinquency fees, travel commissions and income from equity method investments.
Oracle
- Cloud Services and License SupportLargest
OCI, SaaS, database services, and recurring support revenue.
- Cloud License and On-Premise LicenseMaterial
New licenses and cloud license rights for enterprise software.
- ServicesMaterial
Consulting, support, and implementation work.
- HardwareSmaller
Exadata, engineered systems, and related hardware products.
Business model and strategy
American Express
How it makes money
American Express runs a closed-loop payments business: it issues the card, owns the network, underwrites the credit and contracts with the merchant. Visa and Mastercard only move the transaction between an issuing bank and an acquiring bank, so they never see both sides of a purchase.
Growth strategy
Amex's growth strategy is aggressively focused on capturing the next generation of wealthy spenders: Millennials and Gen Z. They have successfully revamped their well-known Platinum and Gold cards with perks tailored specifically for younger demographics (like Uber credits and dining rewards), resulting in rapid growth among younger cohorts.
Competitive advantage
American Express competes on the spending power of its card members rather than on price or ubiquity. Average spending per proprietary basic card member was $25,453 in 2025, which is the argument it makes to merchants who pay a higher discount rate, an average of 2.24 percent of billed business.
Oracle
How it makes money
Oracle sells to businesses and governments, not consumers. Its largest revenue line is cloud services and license support: customers pay recurring fees for OCI compute, storage, GPUs and database services, for Fusion Cloud ERP, HCM, SCM and NetSuite subscriptions, and for annual support on licensed Oracle Database and middleware.
Growth strategy
Oracle's growth plan rests on renting AI training and inference capacity at very large scale. It is building data centers for OpenAI under the Stargate program (a partnership OpenAI describes as over $300 billion across five years and up to 4.5 gigawatts), and it also serves xAI, Meta, NVIDIA and AMD workloads.
Competitive advantage
Oracle's edge comes from its installed base. Oracle Database runs core financial, telecom and government systems, and moving those workloads is slow, expensive and risky, which keeps support revenue recurring. OCI adds a price-performance pitch built on bare-metal servers and RDMA networking for large GPU clusters, and Oracle can offer the same database inside rival clouds.
Questions about American Express vs Oracle
Which company has higher revenue — American Express Company or Oracle Corporation?
American Express Company reported $72.2B (FY2025), while Oracle Corporation reported $67.4B (FY2026). By last reported revenue, American Express Company is the larger business, with Oracle Corporation reporting a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
What is the market cap of American Express Company vs Oracle Corporation?
American Express Company's market capitalisation stands at $205.8B, while Oracle Corporation's is $393.6B. Oracle Corporation carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to American Express Company.
Which is more financially efficient — American Express Company or Oracle Corporation?
American Express Company generates $940k / employee in revenue per employee, while Oracle Corporation generates $478k / employee. American Express Company shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do American Express Company and Oracle Corporation make money?
American Express Company and Oracle Corporation generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. American Express Company: American Express runs a closed-loop payments business: it issues the card, owns the network, underwrites the credit and contracts with the merchant. Oracle Corporation: Oracle sells to businesses and governments, not consumers.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — American Express Company or Oracle Corporation?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, American Express Company trades at 2.8x P/S and Oracle Corporation at 5.8x P/S. Oracle Corporation commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to American Express Company. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is American Express Company bigger than Oracle Corporation?
By last reported revenue, American Express Company ($72.2B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Oracle Corporation ($67.4B (FY2026)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the American Express vs Oracle overview