Block Slashes Nearly Half Its Staff in AI Pivot
▼ Summary
– Block, the financial tech company led by Jack Dorsey, is cutting its workforce by nearly half, eliminating over 4,000 jobs and reducing staff from over 10,000 to under 6,000.
– Dorsey states the layoffs are not due to financial trouble, citing strong business performance with growing gross profit and improving profitability.
– The primary reason for the drastic cuts is the accelerating impact of AI, which is enabling a new, more efficient way of working with smaller teams.
– Dorsey chose a single, large layoff over gradual reductions to take decisive action and rebuild the company from a stronger, believed-in position.
– The announcement was made alongside Q4 2025 earnings, with the goal of transforming Block into a significantly more valuable, smaller, faster, and “intelligence-native” company.
Jack Dorsey’s financial technology firm, Block, has announced a massive workforce reduction, slashing nearly half of its employees as part of a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence. The company, which operates Square and Cash App, will cut over 4,000 positions, reducing its total headcount from more than 10,000 to under 6,000. This decisive move underscores a fundamental shift in how the company intends to operate, prioritizing AI-driven efficiency and a leaner organizational structure.
In a public statement, Dorsey emphasized that the layoffs are not a reaction to financial distress. He stated the company’s business remains strong, with growing gross profit, an expanding customer base, and improving profitability. Instead, the decision stems from a conviction that AI tools are fundamentally reshaping operational paradigms. Dorsey explained that the intelligence tools Block is developing and deploying, when combined with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a radically new way of working. This transformation, he argues, changes the very definition of building and running a company, and its pace is accelerating rapidly.
The choice to implement a single, large-scale layoff rather than gradual cuts was deliberate. Dorsey framed it as a matter of decisive leadership, preferring to take a hard, clear action immediately and rebuild from a position of conviction. He expressed a desire to avoid managing a slow, drawn-out reduction of staff that would ultimately lead to the same outcome, believing a swift transition is more effective for the company’s future.
The announcement coincided with the release of Block’s fourth-quarter earnings report. In a corresponding letter to shareholders, Dorsey elaborated on the strategic vision behind the cuts. He articulated a belief that Block will become “significantly more valuable as a smaller, faster, intelligence-native company,” indicating that every future action will be directed toward realizing this model. This reframes the layoffs not merely as a cost-cutting exercise, but as a foundational step in a broader corporate metamorphosis centered on AI integration. The move signals a bold bet that artificial intelligence will be the core engine of value creation and operational agility for the financial technology giant going forward.
(Source: The Verge)
