Dorsey’s Block to Cut Over 4,000 Jobs, Citing AI Driven Shift
The payments group plans to reduce staff by nearly half amid rising profitability, arguing that AI is changing how companies are built and run.
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Block, the financial technology company founded by former Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said it will cut more than 4,000 jobs, reducing its workforce from over 10,000 employees to just under 6,000.
The reduction represents a headcount cut of roughly 40% as part of a broader shift toward AI-driven operations, the company said.
The announcement came the same day Block reported $2.87 billion in gross profit for the latest quarter, up 24% year over year.
Block operates merchant payments platform Square, peer-to-peer payments service Cash App, music streaming platform Tidal and open source AI system Goose.
In a note posted on X, Dorsey described the move as one of the most difficult in the company’s history and framed it as a strategic shift rather than a response to weakness.
“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,” he wrote. “But something has changed.”
Dorsey said Block is seeing the impact of artificial intelligence internally, arguing that “intelligence tools… 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.”
He noted the company opted for one large reduction rather than multiple smaller rounds, saying repeated cuts are “destructive to morale, to focus and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead.”
He acknowledged the risks involved. “A decision at this scale carries risk but so does standing still.”
US employees affected by the layoffs will receive 20 weeks of salary plus one additional week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of May, six months of health care coverage, their corporate devices and $5,000 in transition support.
Employees outside the US will receive similar support in line with local regulations.
Investors reacted positively to the announcement, sending Block shares up more than 24% in after-hours trading.
The move follows broader workforce reductions across the technology sector as companies cite productivity gains tied to AI and shifts in operating models.
