Fintech company Bloc said Thursday it will cut more than 4,000 jobs, nearly half its workforce, as artificial intelligence disrupts the way people work.
The Oakland parent company of payments services Square and Cash App saw its shares rise more than 23% in after-hours trading after announcing layoffs.
Jack Dorsey, Block’s co-founder and director, said in a post on social media site
“We are already seeing that the intelligence tools we are creating and using, combined with smaller, flatter teams, are enabling new ways of working that fundamentally change what it means to start and run a company,” he said.
Block is the latest tech company to announce large-scale layoffs as employers push employees to use AI tools to do more with fewer people. Amazon announced in January that it would lay off 16,000 people as part of an effort to remove layers within the company.
Mr. Block has been laying off workers over the past several years. Block said the company plans to cut 931 jobs, or 8% of its workforce, in 2025, citing performance and strategic issues, but Dorsey said at the time that the company was not looking to replace employees with AI.
As tech companies deploy AI tools that can perform coding, text generation, and other tasks, employees are increasingly concerned about whether their jobs will be automated.
In a memo to employees, Dorsey said he was considering whether to phase in the cuts over several months or years, but chose to act now.
“Repeated cuts are destroying morale, focus and the confidence our customers and shareholders have in our leadership,” he told employees. “I would rather take tough, clear action now and build from a position we believe in, rather than slowly reducing headcount towards the same outcome.”
Dorsey is also the co-founder of Twitter, which was later renamed X after billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in 2022.
Block had 10,205 full-time employees worldwide as of December, according to the company’s annual report. The company said it plans to reduce its workforce by the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2026.
The company’s gross profit in 2025 is expected to reach more than $10 billion, an increase of 17% from the previous year.
Dorsey said he plans to address employees in a live video session and said email and Slack will remain open until Thursday night so employees can say goodbye to their colleagues.
“I think it might be awkward this way,” he said. “I prefer things that are awkward and human to things that are efficient and cold.”
