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Block Lays Off 4,000 (of 10,000) Employees
CNBC:
Block said Thursday it’s laying off more than 4,000 employees, or
about half of its head count. The stock skyrocketed as much as 24%
in extended trading.
“Today we shared a difficult decision with our team,” Jack
Dorsey, Block’s co-founder and CEO, wrote in a letter to
shareholders. “We’re reducing Block by nearly half, from
over 10,000 people to just under 6,000, which means that over
4,000 people are being asked to leave or entering into
consultation.” [...]
Other companies like Pinterest, CrowdStrike and Chegg have
recently announced job cuts and directly attributed the
layoffs to AI reshaping their workforces.
In an X post, Dorsey said he was faced with the choice of
laying off staffers over several months or years “as this shift
plays out,” or to “act on it now.”
Dorsey’s letter to shareholders was properly upper-and-lowercased; his memo to employees, which he posted on Twitter/X, was entirely lowercase. That’s a telling sign about who he respects. Dorsey, in that memo to employees:
we’re not making this decision because we’re in trouble. our
business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to
serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but
something has changed. we’re already seeing that the intelligence
tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter
teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally
changes what it means to build and run a company. and that’s
accelerating rapidly.
i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this
shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it
now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive
to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and
shareholders place in our ability to lead. i’d rather take a hard,
clear action now and build from a position we believe in than
manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome.
AI is going to obviate a lot of jobs, in a lot of industries. So it goes. But in the case of these tech companies — exemplified by Block — it’s just a convenient cover story to excuse absurd over-hiring in the last 5–10 years. Say what you want about Elon Musk, but he was absolutely correct that Twitter was carrying a ton of needless employees. This reckoning was coming, and “AI” is just a convenient scapegoat.
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Block shares soar as much as 24% as company slashes workforce by nearly half
WATCH LIVE
Key Points
- Block said Thursday it's laying off more than 4,000 employees, or about half of its head count.
- Shares of the payment company skyrocketed as much as 24% in extended trading. It was last seen up nearly 18% in Friday's premarket.
- Block's CFO said the job cuts would enable it "to move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work."
In this article
- XYZ
[Block shares jump as CEO Jack Dorsey links major job cuts to AI]
watch now
VIDEO1:4801:48
Block shares jump as CEO Jack Dorsey links major job cuts to AI
Block said Thursday it's laying off more than 4,000 employees, or about half of its head count. The stock skyrocketed as much as 24% in extended trading.
"Today we shared a difficult decision with our team," Jack Dorsey, Block's co-founder and CEO, wrote in a letter to shareholders. "We're reducing Block by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000, which means that over 4,000 people are being asked to leave or entering into consultation."
Block CFO Amrita Ahuja said the job cuts will position the company "for our next phase of long term growth."
"We are choosing to shift how we operate at a time when our business is accelerating and we see an opportunity to move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work," Ahuja wrote.
Block was last up nearly 18% in premarket trading Friday.
Dorsey said he expects other companies to similarly overhaul their workforces as they see more efficiency gains from "intelligence tools."
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- Nintendo bets more than ever on franchises like Mario to drive Switch 2 sales
"Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes," Dorsey said. "I'd rather get there honestly and on our own terms than be forced into it reactively."
Other companies like Pinterest, CrowdStrike and Chegg have recently announced job cuts and directly attributed the layoffs to AI reshaping their workforces.
In an X post, Dorsey said he was faced with the choice of laying off staffers over several months or years "as this shift plays out," or to "act on it now."
"I chose the latter," Dorsey wrote. "Repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead."
The company had 10,205 employees worldwide as of Dec. 31, 2025, according to its annual filing.
Block announced the layoffs in conjunction with its fourth-quarter earnings results.
[Block shares pop more than 20%, announces plan to reduce workforce by almost half]
watch now
VIDEO1:0001:00
Block shares pop more than 20%, announces plan to reduce workforce by almost half
The payments company reported adjusted earnings per share of 65 cents on revenue of $6.25 billion, while analysts estimated 65 cents per share and $6.24 billion, according to LSEG.
Gross profit increased 24% from a year earlier to $2.87 billion.
For the full year, the company said it sees adjusted earnings per share of $3.66. Analysts anticipated $3.22 per share, according to LSEG.
As a result of the workforce reduction, the company expects to incur charges of approximately $450 million to $500 million, consisting primarily of severance payments, employee benefits and noncash expenses related to share vesting, according to a securities filing.
Block expects most of the restructuring charges to be incurred in the first quarter.
Block year-to-date stock chart.
📄 Q4-2025-Shareholder-Letter_Block.pdf