American Express hints at a big upgrade to its Platinum card, designed to lure a lucrative and fast-growing segment of customers

The wider menu of perks proved a big-time lure for the younger set

Shawn Tully is a senior editor-at-large at Fortune, covering the biggest trends in business, aviation, politics, and leadership.

Amex CEO Steve Squeri wants more high-spending millennials and Gen Zers to join his company’s upper-echelon ranks. And he’s starting to give hints of just how exactly he plans to lure more of them to the fold, announcing on June 16 that the company will implement a big upgrade late this summer or in the early fall to its Platinum card. The company says this will be its biggest investment ever in a card program. “We’ll see two areas of investments,” adds Howard Grosfield, group president for U.S. consumer services. “We’ll double down on all the things our cardmembers love now. And we’ll be adding lots of exciting new brands.”

Amex has positioned the Platinum card as the most expensive in its class at $695 a year. (Chase Sapphire at a comparable level costs $550.) But as Grosfield points out, the millennials and Gen Z crowd believe they’re reaping value well beyond the annual price of entry. The proof: The groups covering the mid-twenties to mid-forties age spectrum now make up 75% of Amex’s new accounts acquired on its two premium cards, Platinum and Gold, for 2024, up from 60% in 2019. The number of Gen Z consumer card members grew 40% in Q1 2025 versus Q1 2024, yet the

The strategy dates back to 2021, when three years into the job, Squeri reckoned that the financial services giant’s best path to growth lay in attracting a far younger generation of shoppers than the affluent boomers that had traditionally formed his enterprise’s—and the industry’s—main target. Squeri took aim at millennials, now 29 to 44, and Gen Zers, today’s twentysomethings, and narrowed his sweet spot for Platinum to the high-income layer boasting excellent

Prior to that refresh, the Platinum benefits focused on travel, chiefly offering deals on the likes of hotel stays, airfares, and access to airport lounges. As the COVID lockdown lifted, Squeri and his team reckoned that the millennial and Gen Z elite would be craving fresh adventures. So Amex greatly broadened its offerings to cover the breadth of their athletic, treat-seeking lifestyles

The carrot that attracted the younger generation: a new array of perks covering all aspects of their leisure lives. These included a digital entertainment benefit award of $240 a year toward subscriptions for such providers as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu. Amex tapped the millennial and Gen Z yen for Uber

Amex also hit an ace