American Express Global Business Travel Reports Strong Q1 2026 Financial Results

A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measure is provided at the end of this release.

Results include the impact of acquisitions for Q1 2026 only.

Paul Abbott, Chief Executive Officer:

“Our financial performance and continued commercial progress in Q1 was strong. Our next-gen Egencia, powered by Agentic AI, and strategic alliance with SAP Concur on Complete are reshaping how enterprises manage travel and expense globally. Total New Wins Value of $3.4 billion and 96% customer retention demonstrate the strength of our offerings and customer relationships."

Business Highlights

 

First Quarter 2026 Operational & Financial Highlights

(Changes compared to prior year period unless otherwise noted)

Given the announcement today of the proposed acquisition of the Company by Long Lake Management (the “Merger”), Amex GBT will not host an earnings conference call and is suspending its practice of holding future earnings conference calls or providing financial guidance.

Glossary of Terms

See the “Glossary of Terms” for the definitions of certain terms used within this press release.

 

About American Express Global Business Travel

American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) is a leading software and services company for travel, expense, and meetings & events. We have built the most valuable marketplace in travel with the most comprehensive and competitive content. A choice of solutions brought to you through a strong combination of technology and people, delivering the best experiences. With travel professionals and business partners in more than 140 countries, our solutions deliver savings, flexibility, and service from a brand you can trust – Amex GBT.

Visit amexglobalbusinesstravel.com for more information about Amex GBT. Follow @amexgbt on LinkedIn and Instagram.

 

GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL GROUP, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Unaudited)

 

GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL GROUP, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

 

GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL GROUP, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(Unaudited)

 

Additional Information and Disclosures

Glossary of Terms

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We report our financial results in accordance with GAAP. Our non-GAAP financial measures are provided in addition, and should not be considered as an alternative, to other performance or liquidity measures derived in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them either in isolation or as a substitute for analyzing our results as reported under GAAP. In addition, because not all companies use identical calculations, the presentations of our non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and can differ significantly from company to company.

Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide users of our financial information with useful supplemental information that enables a better comparison of our performance or liquidity across periods. In addition, we use certain of these non-GAAP financial measures as performance measures as they are important metrics used by management to evaluate and understand the underlying operations and business trends, forecast future results and determine future capital investment allocations. We also use certain of our non-GAAP financial measures as indicators of our ability to generate cash to meet our liquidity needs and to assist our management in evaluating our financial flexibility, capital structure and leverage. These non-GAAP financial measures supplement comparable GAAP measures in the evaluation of the effectiveness of our business strategies, to make budgeting decisions, and/or to compare our performance and liquidity against that of other peer companies using similar measures.

We define Adjusted Gross Profit as revenue less cost of revenue (excluding depreciation and amortization).

We define Adjusted Gross Profit Margin as Adjusted Gross Profit divided by revenue.

We define EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest income, interest expense, gain (loss) on early extinguishment of debt, benefit from (provision for) income taxes and depreciation and amortization.

 

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest income, interest expense, gain (loss) on early extinguishment of debt, benefit from (provision for) income taxes and depreciation and amortization and as further adjusted to exclude costs that management believes are non-core to the underlying business of the Company, consisting of restructuring, exit and related charges, integration costs, costs related to mergers and acquisitions, non-cash equity-based compensation and related employer taxes, long-term incentive plan costs, certain corporate costs, fair value movements on earnout derivative liabilities, foreign currency gains (losses) and non-service components of net periodic pension benefit (costs).

We define Adjusted EBITDA Margin as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue.

We define Adjusted Operating Expenses as total operating expenses excluding depreciation and amortization and costs that management believes are non-core to the underlying business of the Company, consisting of restructuring, exit and related charges, integration costs, costs related to mergers and acquisitions, non-cash equity-based compensation and related employer taxes, long-term incentive plan costs and certain corporate costs.

Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Gross Profit Margin, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin and Adjusted Operating Expenses are supplemental non-GAAP financial measures of operating performance that do not represent and should not be considered as alternatives to gross profit, net income (loss) or total operating expenses, as determined under GAAP. In addition, these measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies.

These non-GAAP measures have limitations as analytical tools, and these measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company’s results or expenses as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are that these measures do not reflect:

Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Gross Profit Margin, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin and Adjusted Operating Expenses should not be considered as a measure of liquidity or as a measure determining discretionary cash available to us to reinvest in the growth of our business or as measures of cash that will be available to us to meet our obligations.

We believe that the adjustments applied in presenting Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Gross Profit Margin, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin and Adjusted Operating Expenses are appropriate to provide additional information to investors about certain material non-cash and other items that management believes are non-core to our underlying business.

We use these measures as performance measures as they are important metrics used by management to evaluate and understand the underlying operations and business trends, forecast future results and determine future capital investment allocations. These non-GAAP measures supplement comparable GAAP measures in the evaluation of the effectiveness of our business strategies, to make budgeting decisions, and to compare our performance against that of other peer companies using similar measures. We also believe that Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Gross Profit Margin, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin and Adjusted Operating Expenses are helpful supplemental measures to assist potential investors and analysts in evaluating our operating results across reporting periods on a consistent basis.

We define Free Cash Flow as net cash from (used in) operating activities, less cash used for additions to property and equipment.

We believe Free Cash Flow is an important measure of our liquidity. This measure is a useful indicator of our ability to generate cash to meet our liquidity demands. We use this measure to conduct and evaluate our operating liquidity. We believe it typically presents an alternate measure of cash flow since purchases of property and equipment are a necessary component of our ongoing operations and it provides useful information regarding how cash provided by operating activities compares to the property and equipment investments required to maintain and grow our platform. We believe Free Cash Flow provides investors with an understanding of how assets are performing and measures management’s effectiveness in managing cash.

 

Free Cash Flow is a non-GAAP measure and may not be comparable to similarly named measures used by other companies. This measure has limitations in that it does not represent the total increase or decrease in the cash balance for the period, nor does it represent cash flow for discretionary expenditures. This measure should not be considered as a measure of liquidity or cash flow from operations as determined under GAAP. This measure is not a measurement of our financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income (loss) or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity.

We define Net Debt as total debt outstanding consisting of the current and non-current portion of long-term debt, net of unamortized debt discount and unamortized debt issuance costs, minus cash and cash equivalents. Net Debt is a non-GAAP measure and may not be comparable to similarly named measures used by other companies. This measure is not a measurement of our indebtedness as determined under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to assess our total debt or any other measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to total debt. Management uses Net Debt to review our overall liquidity, financial flexibility, capital structure and leverage. Further, we believe that certain debt rating agencies, creditors and credit analysts monitor our Net Debt as part of their assessment of our business.

Reconciliation of Adjusted Gross Profit to Gross Profit:

Reconciliation of net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA:

 

Reconciliation of total operating expenses to Adjusted Operating Expenses:

Reconciliation of last twelve months Adjusted EBITDA:

 

Reconciliation of net cash (used in) from operating activities to Free Cash Flow:

Reconciliation of Net Debt:

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this release, including statements regarding the Merger, stockholder approvals for the Merger, any expected timetable for completing the Merger, the expected benefits of the Merger and other statements regarding our financial position, business strategy, and the plans and objectives of management for future operations and full-year guidance, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

 

The forward-looking statements contained in this release are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us, including as a result of the proposed Merger, will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following risks, uncertainties and other factors: (1) changes to projected financial information or our ability to achieve our anticipated growth rate and execute on industry opportunities; (2) our ability to maintain our existing relationships with clients and suppliers and to compete with existing and new competitors; (3) various conflicts of interest that could arise among us, affiliates and investors; (4) our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors; (5) factors relating to our business, operations and financial performance, including market conditions and global and economic factors beyond our control; (6) the impact of geopolitical conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, the conflicts in the Middle East, tensions between China and Taiwan and military operations in Venezuela, as well as related changes in base interest rates, inflation and significant market volatility on our business, the travel industry, travel trends and the global economy generally; (7) the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents and investments to meet our liquidity needs; (8) the effect of a prolonged or substantial decrease in global travel on the global travel industry; (9) political, social and macroeconomic conditions (including the widespread adoption of teleconference and virtual meeting technologies which could reduce the number of in-person business meetings and demand for travel and our services); (10) the effect of legal, tax and regulatory changes; (11) the impact of any future acquisitions including the integration of any acquisition; (12) the decisions of market data providers, indices and individual investors; (13) costs related to, or the inability to recognize the anticipated benefits of our merger with CWT; (14) risks related to the business of CWT or unexpected liabilities that arise in connection with the integration of CWT into our business, including our ability to apply our procedures regarding internal controls over financial reporting to CWT; (15) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company in connection with our merger with CWT or the proposed Merger; (16) the ability to complete the proposed Merger on the anticipated terms and timing, or at all, including obtaining required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other conditions to the completion of the proposed Merger; (17) the risk that disruptions from the proposed Merger (such as the ability of certain customers of Amex GBT to terminate or amend contracts upon a change of control, or to withhold consent to such change of control) will harm Amex GBT’s business, including current plans and operations, during the pendency, and following the completion of, the proposed Merger; (18) the diversion of management’s time and attention from ordinary course business operations to completion of the proposed Merger; (19) potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed Merger; (20) contractual provisions that may impact Amex GBT’s ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions during the pendency, and/or following the completion of, the proposed Merger; (21) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the proposed Merger, including in circumstances requiring Amex GBT to pay a termination fee to acquirer in the Merger; (22) those risks and uncertainties found in Amex GBT’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the risk factors discussed in Amex GBT’s most recent Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as updated by our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and future filings with the SEC from time to time, which are available via the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov; and (23) those risks that will be described in the proxy statement that will be filed with the SEC. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements.

These risks, as well as other risks associated with the Merger, will be more fully discussed in the proxy statement that will be filed with the SEC in connection with the Merger. There can be no assurance that the Merger will be completed, or if it is completed, that it will close within the anticipated time period. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement except as required by law, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. If one or more of these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from what we may have expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Disclaimer

An investment in Global Business Travel Group, Inc. is not an investment in American Express. American Express shall not be responsible in any manner whatsoever for, and in respect of, the statements herein, all of which are made solely by Global Business Travel Group, Inc.