04 May 2026 AmEx Faces Backlash Over Controversial Political Expenditures

American Express Has Been Hijacked By The Left
FEP Aims to Whack Back the Hijack

Washington, D.C. – At tomorrow’s American Express annual meeting, the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP) will argue that the company’s political activities and positions “are a waste – if not just theft – of shareholder resources undertaken to advance the personal political agendas of board members, corporate management and activist employees.”

Shareholders will be able to vote on FEP’s Proposal 5 (“Political Bias Risk Oversight”), which would amend the company’s bylaws to create a Political Bias Committee to “exercise oversight of risks related to board and management political bias.”

In the proposal’s supporting statement, FEP notes:

According to the 1792 Exchange, which rates corporate political and cultural risk exposure, American Express is classified as a “High Risk” company because it “embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues.” The report further notes that the political contributions of American Express leadership favor Democrats over Republicans by nearly nine to one, which is a significant disparity that raises the specter of a material lack of viewpoint diversity within leadership ranks that could lead to insufficiently informed decision-making due to echo-chamber effects putting shareholder value at risk.

Steve Milloy

While presenting Proposal 5, FEP Executive Director Steve Milloy will highlight AmEx’s political positions and activities on issues ranging from abortion to transgender ideology to censorship to critical race theory to Black Lives Matter to climate science, and will say:

Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman wrote in 1970 that the social responsibility of a corporation is to increase its profits. You see, businesses are society’s wealth creation machines. Businesses are not governments, charities or activist groups. Yet too many companies have fallen into the trap of trying to be something they’re not. American Express is one of these companies….

Publicly-owned companies like American Express have been hijacked by left-wing political activists for the benefit of the activists’ bizarre, anti-people, anti-American and anti-capitalist social and political agendas. We are here to whack back the hijack and return companies to be political neutral and strictly focused on wealth creation. Management should concentrate on business, not politics and social causes.

American Express shareholders can support Proposal 5 by voting their proxies before Tuesday’s meeting.

About

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a nonpartisan, free-market, independent conservative think tank. Contributions are tax-deductible and may be earmarked for the Free Enterprise Project. Sign up for email updates here.

The Free Enterprise Project, the original and premier opponent of the woke takeover of American corporate life, aims to push corporations to respect their fiduciary obligations and to stay out of political and social engineering.

Follow us on X at @NationalCenter and @FreeEntProject for general announcements and @NCPPRMedia to be alerted about upcoming media appearances.