FEBRUARY 26, 2026 — 4,000+ EMPLOYEES TARGETED
From Jack Dorsey…
Today we shared a difficult decision with our team. 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. I want to use this letter to explain why I believe this is the right path for our company, and what Block looks like going forward.
2025 was a strong year for us. Gross profit growth more than doubled from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. We surpassed Rule of 40 in the fourth quarter, reignited Cash App network growth, and drove deeper engagement.1 We scaled our lending products at strong returns, accelerated Square gross payment volume GPV growth, and had our strongest new volume added NVA year on record.2 We shipped our first Proto bitcoin mining units and we increased share repurchases to return more capital to shareholders.
We believe this financial performance is just beginning to reflect the product development velocity improvements we drove this year, and we have conviction in achieving the financial targets we laid out at our recent Investor Day. We believe we can sustain Cash Appʼs strong gross profit growth and continue accelerating Squareʼs GPV over the next three years. We have already seen our strategies start to come to life in what we deliver to customers every day. So why are we changing how we operate going forward?
The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company. We're already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we're building, can do more and do it better. And intelligence tool capabilities are compounding faster every week.
I don't think we're early to this realization. I think most companies are late. Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes. I'd rather get there honestly and on our own terms than be forced into it reactively.
And this isn't just about efficiency. Block serves millions of customers. Sellers and consumers who are going to feel the economic effects of this same shift. Small businesses that rely on us to get paid, to manage their money, to access capital. Individuals navigating a financial landscape that's changing fast. Our job is to help them through it. That's not a new mission for us, but the urgency behind it is more pronounced, and the speed at which we need to deliver is accelerating.
So here's how we're going to operate from here.
First, intelligence will be at the core of how the entire company works. How we make decisions, how we build trust and manage risk, how we build products, and how we serve customers. We're moving toward a model where our customers can build their own features directly on top of our capabilities. That changes the nature of what we are as a company, and it dramatically increases the value we can deliver per customer.
Second, extreme focus. There are four things weʼre going to focus on building now as a company: customer capabilities, interfaces where we can compose and deliver those capabilities, proactive intelligence based on our deep customer understanding and real-time data, and an intelligence model to fully orchestrate the companyʼs operations. This allows us to best serve the master plan we laid out at investor day.
Third, speed. A company of our new size has no excuse for being slow. We will decide faster, ship faster, and learn faster. The structure we're building is designed for that. We believe Block will be significantly more valuable as a smaller, faster, intelligence-native company. Everything we do from here is in service of that.
Jack
MARCH 29, 2025 — 931 EMPLOYEES
In an all-lowercase email, CEO Jack Dorsey announced an 8% reduction in force, including 80 managers, to flatten the company's hierarchy, while 391 roles are set to be cut from "teams that are off strategy." Also to be let go are 460 underperforming employees.
From Jack Dorsey…
hi all.
today we’ll be making some org changes, including eliminating roles and beginning the consultation process in countries where required. i want to give you all the straight facts.
as I said at the last Block, there are three areas we’d like to address:
strategy: reducing from teams that are off strategy, and fixing our discipline ratios.
performance: parting ways with people with a “below” or trending towards “below.”
hierarchy: driving to flattening our org to a max depth of innercore+4
what that translates to in actual numbers of people:
strategy: 391 people
performance: 460 people
hierarchy: 80 managers (with 193 moving it individual contributor roles)
we’re also closing all the 748 roles we had open with the exception of:
roles progressed to offer stage.
critical operational roles
start/accelerate roles
key leadership roles
none of the above points are trying to hit a specific financial target, replacing folks with AI, or changing our headcount cap. they are specific to our needs around strategy, raising the bar and acting faster on performance, and flattening our org so we can move faster and with less abstraction.
why do this all at once instead of over time? we’re behind in our actions, and that’s not fair to the individuals who work here or the company. when we know, we should move, and there hasn’t been enough movement. we need to move to help us meet and stay ahead of the transformational moment our industry is in.
this is the toughest part of my job, and I fight hard against any of these considerations. we must have a very high bar of correctness for us to take any action, which takes iteration and time to get right. i always balance this with the fact that everyone here, and those that are departing, has equity in our company. it’s my job to increase that value. we believe this will help us focus and execute better to do just that.
we’re working to give clarity to everyone as quickly, with as much context and support, as possible. you’ll receive an email soon about what this means for you. if there are areas where you think we could do better, please send me a note. direct feedback makes us better, and I always act when it makes sense.
thank you to all those leaving us. i am grateful and appreciative for you and your work, which has built us up to this point. we will continue to honor that by increasing our value to our customers, and therefore to all of our shareholders, including you.
thank you,
jack
FEBRUARY 19, 2024 — Original post…
Oakland, California-based Block (formerly known as Square), a financial payment processing firm, has announced a 10% reduction in its workforce, mainly in its Cash App, Foundational and Square operations.
The reduction in force will impact 1,000+ employees.
Co-founder Jack Dorsey noted, “We decided it would be better to do at once rather than arbitrarily space them out, which didn’t seem fair to the individuals or to the company. When we know we need to take an action, we want to take it immediately, rather than let things linger on forever.”
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?
